Cryptoclididae

Cryptoclidids
Temporal range:
Middle Jurassic - Early Cretaceous, 170–130 Ma
Skeleton of Cryptoclidus eurymerus at the Museum of Paleontology, Tuebingen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Sauropterygia
Order: Plesiosauria
Clade: Cryptoclidia
Family: Cryptoclididae
Williston, 1925
Genera
Life restoration of Muraenosaurus

Cryptoclididae is a family of medium-sized plesiosaurs that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. They had long necks, broad and short skulls and densely packed teeth. They fed on small soft-bodied preys such as small fish and crustaceans. The earliest members of the family appeared during the early Bajocian, and they represented the dominant group of long-necked plesiosaurs during the latter half of the Jurassic.[3]

  1. ^ Roberts AJ, Druckenmiller PS, Cordonnier B, Delsett LL, Hurum JH. 2020. A new plesiosaurian from the Jurassic–Cretaceous transitional interval of the Slottsmøya Member (Volgian), with insights into the cranial anatomy of cryptoclidids using computed tomography. PeerJ 8:e8652 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8652
  2. ^ Gasparini, Z.; Bardet, N. & Iturralde-Vinent, M. (2002). "A new cryptoclidid plesiosaur from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Cuba" (PDF). Geobios. 35 (2): 201–211. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(02)00019-0.
  3. ^ Fischer, Valentin; Weis, Robert; Thuy, Ben (2021-02-22). "Refining the marine reptile turnover at the Early–Middle Jurassic transition". PeerJ. 9: e10647. doi:10.7717/peerj.10647. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7906043. PMID 33665003.