Discosaurus

Discosaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Santonian of Alabama and Mississippi.^[1] One species is known, which is D. vestutus.

Discosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Santonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype vertebrae of D. vestutus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
Family:	†Pliosauridae
Subfamily:	†Brachaucheninae
Genus:	†Discosaurus Leidy, 1851
Type species
†Discosaurus vetustus Leidy, 1851

Discovery and naming

The holotype, eleven vertebrae, was discovered by Joseph Jones in Alabama and Mississippi, and was named and described as Discosaurus vestutus by Leidy (1851).^[2] Two more specimens from New Jersey were described and were later re-classified as belonging to Cimoliasaurus magnus by Leidy (1870b).^[3]

Leidy (1870b) later argued that Discosaurus was the same animal as Elasmosaurus.^[3]

See also

• Timeline of plesiosaur research

• List of plesiosaurs