Albertonectes vanderveldei : An Extreme Elasmosaur
Photo Above Credit: Albertonectes. From Kubo et al., 2012.A new animal has been discovered/described in the latest Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. It’s a new type of plesiosaur (marine reptile; not a dinosaur) that has a wicked amount of cervical bones; 76 to be exact! The neck alone comes out to be a length of around 23 feet. Pretty awesome, right? It’s even cooler because - if true - this animal has the highest count of cervical vertebra ever!
The animal comes from Alberta, Canada - hence the name Albertonectes vanderveldei. It’s practically complete, but unfortunately missing the skull. It apparently measures out to be just under 40 feet in length.
Since it’s a new discovery, there is much more we still do not know just yet. This is all very exciting. It sure makes you wonder how many other species are still in the rocks just waiting to be discovered.
Want to know more? Read up on the paper released on this animal below:
Paper: Kubo, T., Mitchell, M., & Henderson, D. (2012). Albertonectes vanderveldei , a new elasmosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 32 (3), 557-572 DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2012.658124.
You can also read the article on Wired (where I got the released information from).
Cephalopod is the name given to the Squids and Octopus. Ancient Cephalopods often had hard
shells that could be straight or spiral and came in elaborate shapes, sizes, designs and colors They
varied in sizes of less than 1/4 in diameter to several feet in diameter. The three main groups of
fossil cephalopod remains found are Nautiloids, Ammonites and Belimites. These ancient beauties
lasted from about 400 million years ago to about 160 million years ago when they disappeared
about the time the dinosaurs became extinct. The legacy the left behind are some of the most diverse
and interesting fossils that can be found.
A little blog for my kids. Expect trains, leopards, fire engines and more. My real blog is www.coffeeslot.tumblr.com, go there if you want punk rock and stupidity.
