Nakonanectes
| Nakonanectes | |
|---|---|
| |
Life restoration
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Nakonanectes Serratos et al., 2017 |
| Type species | |
| Nakonanectes bradti Serratos et al., 2017
| |
Nakonanectes bradti is an
in the United States. It is one of the most recently known elasmosaurids to have lived in North America. Unlike other elasmosaurids, it has a relatively short neck.Description
In November 2010, hunter David Bradt stumbled on an elasmosaur fossil at the bottom of a narrow canyon on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Before it could be salvaged in the spring of 2011, the shale nodule was partly destroyed by flooding. The specimen proved to be a new, short-necked species of elasmosaur, subsequently named Nakonanectes bradti. The generic name refers to the Assiniboine.[1][2]
The
The fossil was found in the Bearpaw Formation, a late Campanian/early Maastrichtian rock, making it one of the last known elasmosaurids to have lived in the Western Interior Seaway.[2]
N. bradti was only 5.1 to 5.6 metres (17 to 18 ft) in length, making it one of the smallest elasmosaurids known.[2] It also had a much shorter neck that most elasmosaurids, with only 39 to 42 cervical vertebrae.[2]
Classification
Danielle Serratos, Patrick Druckenmiller, and Roger Benson found that N. bradti, established by them to be a styxosaurine, is convergent in build to the
References
- ^ "New prehistoric sea creature discovered after Montana hunter finds exposed fossils". Associated Press. April 14, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
- ^ S2CID 132717607.