Pliosaur vertebra

[DatFossilBoy]

Hey everyone.

Saw this vertebra online labelled as a Pliosaur vertebra.

I heard pliosaur is quite rare and valuable so maybe this could be a good deal.

What do you think? 

It is from Gloucester UK.

 also from the Upper Triassic (Rhaetian)

Thanks for suggestions! (Not sure if I will be able to respond quickly to this post but I will do it ASAP.  ) 

[BonuFrailman]

Did he provide an location of formation? And just curious but how much is it going for? If it’s under $120 I’d go for it.

 

Edit: Found the listing. If I were you, I’d make an offer to him as he’s got a high shipping price.

Edited May 1, 2018 by BonuFrailman
Info

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

I strongly doubt there were Rhaetian pliosaurs… Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that Pliosauridae diverged from Plesiosauria in the Early Jurassic. 

My guess would be that the vertebra is from a basal plesiosaur. Any Triassic plesiosaur material is rather rare (when compared to material from the Jurassic and Cretaceous), I'd advise you to make sure that the specimen is authentic.

Hope this helped!

 

Christian.

Edited May 1, 2018 by The Amateur Paleontologist

[gigantoraptor]

There are no known pliosauroidea from the Triassic, only from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Rhaetian means probably plesiosaur or ichthyosaur, but I don't know the other fauna of this location. 

Nice vert, for a nice price I would take it.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

@gigantoraptor @DatFossilBoy If you guys want, I can send you by email some literature on the Rhaetian fauna from southern England; I've got quite a few papers.

[Miocene_Mason]

Not sure if this is relevant, but other sauropterygians were alive at the time, though I’d have no idea what their vertebrae look like.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

@WhodamanHD  There were other Triassic sauropterygians (for instance, nothosaurs), though their vertebrae are somewhat different to the one illustrated above.

[Mike from North Queensland]

Could it be an elasmosaur ?

 

Mike

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

@Mike from North Queensland Based on the morphology of the neural spine, I consider that it is a cervical vertebra. However, elasmosaurid cervicals don't look like that.

[DatFossilBoy]

Thanks guys for the help!

Not pliosaur then.

Kind regards.