Journal
ALCHERINGA
Volume 37, Issue 4, Pages 456-461Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/03115518.2013.772825
Keywords
freshwater plesiosaurs; Plesiosauria; Cretaceous; Eumeralla Formation; Victoria
Categories
Funding
- Leverhulme Foundation [RPG-129]
- Harold Mitchell Foundation
- Museum Victoria
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We report a large plesiosaurian tooth from the freshwater early-middle Aptian (Early Cretaceous) Eumeralla Formation of Victoria, Australia. This, combined with records of smaller plesiosaurian teeth with an alternative morphology, provides evidence for a multitaxic freshwater plesiosaurian assemblage. Dental and body size differences suggest ecological partitioning of sympatric freshwater plesiosaurians analogous to that in modern freshwater odontocete cetaceans. The evolutionarily plastic body plan of Plesiosauria may have facilitated niche differentiation and helped them to exclude ichthyosaurs from freshwater environments during the Mesozoic. However, confirmation of this hypothesis requires the discovery of more complete remains.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available