Woolungasaurus
| Woolungasaurus Temporal range:
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| Holotype paddle | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Woolungasaurus P.O. Persson, 1960 |
| Species | |
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Woolungasaurus ('Woolunga lizard', named after an Aboriginal mythical reptile, Persson 1960) is a dubious genus of plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, belonging to the Elasmosauridae.
History
Life restoration
The
Maree Formation (Cretaceous, of uncertain age) of Neales River, near Lake Eyre, South Australia. A skull formerly referred to this genus from Yambore Creek, near Maxwelton, Queensland, is now the holotype of Eromangasaurus
.
However, because of the uninformative, flawed diagnosis of Persson (1960), Welles (1962) considered Woolungasaurus a nomen dubium.[2][3] In 2004, the genus was referred to Styxosaurus by Sven Sachs in 2004.[2] Kear (2005) disagreed with this view and followed the interpretation by Welles (1962), rendering the genus to be an indeterminate elasmosaurid.[3]
See also
Notes
- ^ Persson, P.O., 1960, "Lower Cretaceous Plesiosaurians (Reptilia) from Australia", Lunds Universitets Arsskrift 56(12): 1-23
- ^ a b Sachs, S., 2004, "Redescription of Woolungasaurus glendowerensis (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Northeast Queensland", Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 49(2): 713-731
- ^ S2CID 86297695.
References
- Long, J.A. 1998. Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand. UNSW Press.