| Description | Polycotylus is a genus of plesiosaur within the family Polycotylidae. The type species is P. latippinis and was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1869. Eleven other species have been identified. The name means 'much-cupped vertebrae', referring to the shape of the vertebrae. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway of North America toward the end of the Cretaceous. One fossil preserves an adult with a single large fetus inside of it, indicating that Polycotylus gave live birth, an unusual adaptation among reptiles.
|
|---|
| Source Data | |
|---|
| Rank | genus |
|---|
| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Polycotylidae : Polycotylus |
|---|
| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Reptilia : Sauropterygia : Polycotylidae : Polycotylus |
|---|
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted |
|---|
Classification
(PBDB,GBIF) | |
|---|
| Scientific Name | Polycotylus Cope, 1869 |
|---|
| Name Published In | Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 11 |
|---|
| Opinions (PBDB) | | Name | Rank | Opinion | Evidence | Author |
|---|
| Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Sauropterygia | stated with evidence | Cope, 1869 | | Polycotylus | genus | subjective synonym of Cimoliosaurus | stated with evidence | Lydekker, 1889 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Elasmosauridae | stated with evidence | Seeley, 1892 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Elasmosauridae | stated without evidence | Hay, 1902 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Plesiosauria | stated without evidence | Williston, 1903 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Plesiosauria | stated with evidence | Williston, 1906 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated with evidence | Williston, 1908 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated without evidence | White, 1940 | | Polycotylus | genus | nomen vanum Plesiosauria | stated without evidence | Welles, 1962 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated with evidence | Carpenter, 1996 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated without evidence | Adams, 1997 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated with evidence | O'Keefe, 2001 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Plesiosauria | second hand | Sepkoski, 2002 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated with evidence | O'Keefe, 2004 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylinae | stated with evidence | Albright et al., 2007 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Cryptocleidoidea | stated without evidence | Otero et al., 2012 | | Polycotylus | genus | belongs to Polycotylidae | stated without evidence | Hampe, 2013 |
|
|---|
| Status (PBDB) | extinct |
|---|
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 3 |
|---|
| First Recorded Appearance | 156 - 151 Ma
Jurassic |
|---|
| Last Recorded Appearance | 83.5 - 70.6 Ma
Late/Upper Cretaceous |
|---|
| Environment | marine (based on Plesiosauria) |
|---|
| Motility | actively mobile (based on Plesiosauria) |
|---|
| Diet | carnivore (based on Plesiosauria) |
|---|
| Reproduction | viviparous (based on Plesiosauria) |
|---|
| Taphonomy | hydroxylapatite (based on Plesiosauria) |
|---|
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | E. D. Cope. 1869. Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America. Part I. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 14:1-104 |
|---|
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycotylus |
|---|
| Cope E. D. , Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America. Part I. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 14, 1-104 |
| Hector J. On the fossil Reptilia of New Zealand, Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 6, 333-358 |
| Seeley H. G. The Nature of the Shoulder Girdle and Clavicular Arch in Sauropterygia, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 51, 119-151 |
| Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868 |
| Williston S. W. (1903) North American plesiosaurs, part 1, Geological Series Field Museum of Natural History 3 1, 1-77 |
| Williston S. W. (1906) North American plesiosaurs: Elasmosaurus, Cimoliasaurus, and Polycotylus, The American Journal of Science, series 4 21, 221-236 |
| Williston S. W. (1908) North American plesiosaurs Trinacromerum, Journal of Geology 16 8, 715-736 |
| White T. E. (1940) Holotype of Plesiosaurus longirostris Blake and classification of the plesiosaurs, Journal of Paleontology 14 5, 451-467 |
| Carpenter K. (1996) A review of short-necked plesiosaurs of the Western Interior, North America, Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen 201 2, 259-287 |
| Adams D. A. (1997) Trinacromerum bonneri, new species, last and fastest pliosaur of the Western Interior Seaway, Texas Journal of Science 49 3, 179-198 |
| O'Keefe F. R. (2001) A cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision of the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia), Acta Zoologica Fennica 213, 1-63 |
| Sepkoski, Jr. J. J. (2002) A compendium of fossil marine animal genera, Bulletins of American Paleontology 363, 1-560 |
| O'Keefe F. R. (2004) On the cranial anatomy of the polycotylid plesiosaurs, including new material of Polycotylus latipinnis, Cope, from Alabama, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24 2, 326-340 |
| Albright L. B., Gillette D. D., et al (2007) Plesiosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Tropic Shale of southern Utah, part 2: Polycotylidae, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 1, 41-58 |
| Otero R. A., Soto-Acuña S., et al (2012) A postcranial skeleton of an elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Maastrichtian of central Chile, with comments on the affinities of Late Cretaceous plesiosauroids from the Weddellian Biogeographic Province, Cretaceous Research 37, 89-99 |
| Hampe O. (2013) The forgotten remains of a leptocleidid plesiosaur (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauroidea) from the Early Cretaceous of Gronau (Münsterland, Westphalia, Germany), Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 87, 473-491 doi:10.1007/s12542-013-0175-3 |
| GBIF/Paleo Database - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 11 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
| Sepkoski, J. J., Jr. (2002). A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology. 363, 1-560. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera |
Polycotylus ✝
