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Hi, Saw this for sale, was thinking of purchasing it, but wanted to confirm if this is indeed Plesiosaur. it is quite large for a partial paddle at 14 inches in length and from the Goulmima region in Morocco. Thanks.

... and it is only the beginning of January. A bucket list item I have been hunting for for a while. Plesiosaur vertebra from the Eagle Ford of North Texas.

Hey everyone! I recently got a few marine reptile teeth from various formations in the UK, including this partial plesiosaur tooth from the Oxford Clay. The enamel is only partially preserved, but appears unworn and allows for a good look at the enamel ridges of this section. The curved, rather robust shape of the tooth and the irregular distribution of the pretty prominent enamel ridges made me move away from ichthyosaur or machimosaurid as an ID, and seemed more in line with the many plesiosaurs from this formation. But that's where it got more tricky. Since it's a small tooth (about 21mm in total) excluding taxa based on size alone isn't possible. I couldn't find much literature on the ontogenetic changes in enamel structure for most plesiosaurs from this formation, so assuming similar condiditions in both adult and juvenile individuals has to suffice (though I'm always open for more info!). Starting with the plesiosauroids, all Oxford Clay taxa are part of Cryptoclididae and have at times very detailed descriptions of their teeth available. Therefore we're able to use these as a reference point to compare this tooth against. BROWN 1981 describes teeth from all available species in detail: Cryptoclidus possesses teeth with greatly reduced ornamentation, to the point where usually labial ridges are missing entirely. Also, all lingual ridges in these teeth originate basally, neither of which is the case here. Muraenosaurus is described to have a higher number of labial ridges apically than basally and no prominent axial ridges, conditions that don't apply here: The ridge count is highest basally and is reduced apically, and axial carinae are seperate and distinguishable from the other ridges. OTERO et al. 2020 recovers Picrocleidus as the sister taxon to Muraenosaurus, so since there is no dental material assigned to Picrocleidus we have to assume a similar condition. Lastly, Tricleidus is supposed to possess teeth similar to Muraenosaurus, only with stronger and more numerous labial ridges than lingual ones. Again, neither of these conditions apply here: Ridges are more numerous lingually, and don't appear to be obviously different in strength (though I will have to examine and describe them individually in more detail). Overall, the relatively short, robust nature doesn't fit as well with Plesiosauroidea (though position is important), and the sometimes mentioned labio-lingually compressed shape of their teeth doesn't seem to apply here either, at least not in the parts preserved. Looking at the other resident plesiosaur group, the pliosaurids, the round cross-section and offset carinae are found in various taxa. Still, we can again exclude some from the start: According to KETCHUM & BENSON 2010, Peloneustes possesses teeth in which all ridges around the crown originate basally, which like mentioned before isn't the case. 'Pliosaurus' andrewsi likely represents a new taxon closest related to Peloneustes, but with no known dental material, so assuming a similar condition is the most resonable option for now. Descriptions of the teeth of Pachycostasaurus in NOÈ 2001 describe the enamel ridges as broad and sparse, but don't go into much detail. Yet, these conditions don't really seem to sit well with the structure of this tooth, in which ridges are at least in one region somewhat tightly grouped together. KETCHUM & BENSON 2011 describe a diagnostic condition in the teeth of Marmornectes, in which the enamel ridges only start in some distance to the carinae - this is somewhat true for one carina, but not the other, in which the carina is clearly distinguishable from the other ridges, yet isn't particularly spaced further away from the the ridges than they are from one another. This leaves Liopleurodon and Simolestes, neither of which typically show much labial ornamentation, yet this appears to be highly dependent on position and ontogeny. For example, ANDREWS 1918 describes teeth of Simolestes with comparatively extensive labial ornamentation even at considerable size. Overall, I know this ID is hard to pin down. I'd really like to hear your thoughts, and I can of course provide more detailed pictures if necessary. If anyone knows someone I could contact over this, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you for your help!

Hello, this is my first post on the forum so firstly I apologise if I have done anything wrong. I brought these teeth a number of years ago and have only just got round to sorting them out. The first one was listed as Jurassic crocodile tooth and the second as Jurassic Plesiosaur tooth, they both come from the Oxford clay around Peterborough. I would really like to put a species name to these teeth if possible so any help would be greatly appreciated. My initial thoughts were Metriorhynchus for the crocodile tooth and Cryptoclidus for the Plesiosaur but I am a complete amateur and would love some help from professionals. Finding information online about the Oxford clay seems to be very difficult. Thanks in advance for your help.

Picked this big chunk of fresh rhaetic bone bed up today. It was twice the size when I found it but I was a butter fingers and dropped it accidentally and the other half disintegrated. Doh. Its a nice early Christmas present. If you look carefully, there’s a whopper of a plesiosaur vert in there. I’ll post some more pictures when I start digging into it.

... But I don’t know the genus. It is from the upper Cretaceous, found in phosphate deposits from the Oulad Abdoun basin, Morocco. It is around 6cm in length.

I went to the Ramanessin brook a few months ago for the first time, while I was busy looking at my cretaceous shark teeth I completely forgot about this thing I found. To me it looks just like a bone but I have never found any type of bone in New Jersey before, I'm curious if it is one. And if it is, is it possible to identify what this could possibly be from.

Hi all. I recently acquired a plesiosaur tooth from morocco, khourigba, phosphate deposits. In a facebook group i was told the tooth is thicker than any known teeth from the area. Have the attentive reader here seen any teeth of this thickness? The tooth is about 2 inches long.

I suspect this to be mosasaur. Can anyone confirm and more accurately identify?

Hello, as part of a great hunt at Seatown on the jurassic coast I found this vertebra covered in pyrite, my first thought is plesiosaur due to the size of it. However the upper surface looks unusual to other plesiosaur verts Ive seen, any thoughts?

Hello. This is sold as Kimmeridge Clay Plesiosaur propodial with predation marks. It matches photos of propodials, but I am wondering if they actually are predation marks? Seller says the marks are probably pliosaur. It's been sold along with a bunch of other plesiosaur fossils that were dredged together. If anyone can help, that would be great.

Hello all! I haven't done a trip report for a long time so I figured this would be a good time! I went to one for my favorite New Jersey Cretaceous streams on Friday and put in a few miles of walking. It was raining slightly but with hot it's been lately, that was actually appreciated! At the end of a mostly unproductive trip, I decided I was done and would turn around About a minute later, I saw something in the water and picked it up - it ended up being a nearly two-inch long, rooted Plesiosaur tooth!! I couldn't believe it; I've never found a Plesi tooth here this big or any with root so I've been excited all weekend. For the invertebrate fans, I also like the preservation on the bivalves too. Here are all of my 'keepers' for the trip. @Jeffrey P@Trevor@Carl

It was initially being sold as plesiosaur when I inquired about it, but seller says it was mislabelled and is pliosaur--which, if accurate, even better! But I am dubious over Pliosaur ID because I don't think I've ever seen any Morocco pliosaur fossils up for sale. But, if anyone can take a look and let me if A) It looks legit and B ) Whether you think Pliosaur or plesiosaur is accurate, that would be great. 80 million years old, from Morocco. 17 inches along the straight edge and 10 inches along the bottom. Thanks for any help!

Hello, new to posting on the forum and fairly new to fossil hunting. Found these very nice marine reptile vertabrae near Osmington Mills, Dorset. All found close together washed out of the Kimmeridgian Clay I think... Age: Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian? 163 - 152mya (both rock types there but I believe the clay cliffs above the beach are Kimmeridgian. Can anyone confirm I have 2 different types (Plesiosaur & Ichthyosaur)? Also any guesses at what species they are likely to be or is it not possible to narrow down from a more generic Ichthyosaurus sp./ Plesiosaurus sp. ? The "Plesiosaur" Vertebra, more chunky and flatter with pits on side. (Could this be a type of Pliosaur like Liopleurodon or Pliosaurus sp. ?)

Hi all My son and I were looking through some teeth from the NSR and want to get your opinions on this one. We first thought that this was a mosasaur tooth; however, someone suggested that it may be a plesiosaur/elasmosaurid tooth. We wanted to gather some more opinions since we have no idea what it is. The tooth measures 16 x 6 x 6 mm. Thanks and Happy New Year!

Hello! I'm a pretty novice fossil hunter, so I look for things that stand out! Recently I found these in a span of about two weeks, I haven't seen anything like them before. The small ones all have a flat/facet on the posterior side, same teardrop shape, and the larger ones look like " big ears" to me, lol. I thought maybe iron concecretions at first, but the small ones look different, in that they are not "round". Ammonites? Reminds me of some of the pics posted of plesiosaur fossils, I have more pics, but the files are too big to post all at one time - I would really appreciate any insight! Fossil pic 3.pdf

Hi all! What do you think of this vertebra? It was found long ago, comes probably from marine Kimmeridgian-Tithonian outcrops in the Volga basin, Russia. Doesn't look exactly like plesiosaur, but what else?

Have a creek not far from my house that I hunt regularly that turns up a few goodies on every trip. Went out hunting last week and found this partial tooth. I have found Mosasaur bones and teeth here but am pretty sure this tooth is from something else. My thought is plesiosaur due to it having much heavier striations and also looks to have a pretty good curve to it. Thank you for any insight.

This is a continuation of the previous threads about the Plesiosaur jaw (Found near Goulmima, Morocco) that was for sale.... So i was thinking about the teeth that came with the jaw i bought, i asked a plesiosaur expert and he believes that the teeth look like they are from a Pliosaur as they don't seem to match Zarafasaura or Thililua. The teeth however, are quite slender (the bigger one is 1.5 inches and the smaller is around 1 inch), so i wanted to ask about any diagnostic features on either of the teeth that can help describe it to family level - especially since the teeth were associated with the jaw and if i can narrow down the teeth, then the jaw can be narrowed down too. Any ideas?

This kind of tooth surface, with the ridges, isn’t that for the most part, not a common plesiosaur feature? This is from Lyme Regis....what would you all think?

How can you tell the difference from mosasaur and Plesiosaur from NSR?

I've always been fascinated by the Cretaceous sea and its myriad of terrifying carnivores, many that would've made Jaws look meek. After watching BBC's Sea Monsters, I made it my goal to compile a box of sea monster fossils. I started this journey 10 years ago, and finally completed the box recently. Allow me to present my Predators of the Cretaceous Sea collection, and take you on a journey to the most dangerous sea of all times. The box measures 20.25 inches long. Inside are 24 unique predator fossils. I will introduce them from left to right, top to bottom: Rhombodus binkhorsti Age: 70.6 - 66 mya | late Cretaceous Formation: Severn Formation Locality: Bowie, Maryland, USA Size: 1 meters Diet: Molluscs and crustaceans art by Nobu Tamura --------------- Polyptychodon interruptus Age: 105.3 - 94.3 mya | Cretaceous Formation: Stoilensky Quarry stratigraphic unit Locality: Stary-Oskol, Belgorod Oblast, Russia Size: Maybe 7 meters (This is a tooth taxon so size is not confirmed) Diet: Anything it could catch Note: If you consider Polytychodon a nomen dubium, then this is a Pliosauridae indet. art by Mark Witton ----------------- Prognathodon giganteus Age: 70.6 - 66 mya | late Cretaceous Formation: Ouled Abdoun Basin Locality: Khouribga Phosphate Deposits, Morocco Size: 10-14 meters Diet: Everything art by SYSTEM(ZBrushCentral) --------------- Coloborhynchinae indet. Age: 99.7 - 94.3 mya | late Cretaceous Formation: Kem Kem Beds Locality: Southeast Morocco Size: 7 meters (high estimate) Diet: Fish and cephalopods

Are there ways to differentiate long neck plesiosaur bones vs. pliosaur bones*(specifically vertebrae from the kimmeridge clay in this case), other than by size, in some cases? *or any of the paddle bones