Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the Plesiosauroidea. The species has 40 neck vertebrae and a short tail of 28 vertebrae. Fossils of the genus have been found in France, the Posidonia Shale in Germany and Luxembourg, and the Alum Shale Formation of England.

Description

The type species, M. homalospondylus, was the largest, measuring long and weighing . Other species were smaller: M. tournemirensis was about long and weighed , and M. melusinae was about long and weighed .

Classification

Species include: Microcleidus homalospondylus (Owen 1865) and Microcleidus macropterus (Seeley 1865).

Occitanosaurus tournemirensis (originally "Plesiosaurus" tournemirensis), was named by Sciau et al. in 1990, based on a nearly complete skeleton of an animal approximately 4meters (13ft) long. It was later found to be a species of Microcleidus.

The following cladogram follows an analysis by Ketchum & Benson, 2011.

See also

• List of plesiosaur genera

• Timeline of plesiosaur research

References

External links

• at Sachs Vertebrate Palaeontology Research

Bibliography

• Bardet, Nathalie; Fernandez, Marta; Garcia-Ramos, Jose Carlos; Superbiola, Xabier Pereda; Pinuela, Laura; Ruiz-Omenaca, Jose Ignacio; and Vincent, Peggy (2008). "A juvenile plesiosaur from the Pliensbackian (Lower Jurassic) of Asturias, Spain". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(1): 258–263

• http://www.plesiosaur.com Plesiosaur.com 13 Oct 2006

• http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/220Lepidosauromorpha Palæos.com 13 Oct 2006

• https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/abs/microcleidus-melusinae-a-new-plesiosaurian-reptilia-plesiosauria-from-the-toarcian-of-luxembourg/EFF3920EB96A0E7930F1C4C51E4F238F