Polycotylus

Polycotylus Temporal range: 83.6 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ [1][2]
The specimen containing a fetus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
Family:	†Polycotylidae
Subfamily:	†Polycotylinae
Genus:	†Polycotylus Cope, 1869
Type species
†Polycotylus latipinnis Cope, 1869
Species
†P. latipinnis Cope, 1869 †P. sopozkoi Elphimov et al., 2016

Polycotylus is a genus of plesiosaur within the family Polycotylidae.^[3] The type species is P. latippinis and was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1869. Eleven other species have been identified. The name means 'much-cupped vertebrae', referring to the shape of the vertebrae. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway of North America toward the end of the Cretaceous. One fossil preserves an adult with a single large fetus inside of it, indicating that Polycotylus gave live birth, an unusual adaptation among reptiles.