Nuevo Documento de Texto

si
Order I. NOTHOSAURI.[146]
The limbs are of the terrestrial type; the five digits have the usual number of
phalanges, which do not exceed five. The bones of the limbs are slender; the
humerus has an entepicondylar foramen.
Fam. 1. Mesosauridae.–The neck contains about ten vertebrae. The vertebrae are
deeply biconcave, perforated by the chorda dorsalis. Sacral vertebrae four in
number. Clavicles strong; interclavicle very small. Mesosaurus, the only genus,
with one species, M. tenuidens, about one foot in length, was found in {477}South
Africa, probably in Triassic sandstone. Very similar specimens are known from São
Paolo in Brazil.
Fam. 2. Nothosauridae.–With sixteen to twenty-one cervical and three to five sacral

vertebrae. The vertebrae are biconcave. The clavicles are strong; the interclavicle
is much reduced. Coracoids with distinct acromial processes.
Nothosaurus mirabilis, of the Muschelkalk of Germany. Total length about ten feet.
Length of head about one foot. The teeth are very irregular. About five slender,
long teeth are implanted in each side of the premaxilla, with wide spaces between
them, similar to those of the symphysial portion of the lower jaw. Those of the
maxillaries are numerous and small, except two large pairs in the anterior portion,
on a level between the orbits and nostrils. The upper and lower teeth overlap, or
cross each other. The palate of the long and slender skull is quite bony, without
anterior palatal or infra-orbital vacuities.
Lariosaurus balsami, about one foot in length, from the fresh-water deposits of the
Upper Trias in Lombardy. Neck with about twenty, tail with about forty vertebrae.
Head comparatively shorter; more triangular than in Nothosaurus; palate with small
infra-orbital vacuities. The number of the phalanges of the fingers and toes is
apparently 2, 3, 4, 4, 3 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 4.
Anarosaurus pumilio, of the Muschelkalk, near Magdeburg, and Neusticosaurus and

Simosaurus of the same geological age, are allied forms.
Order II. PLESIOSAURI.
The limbs are transformed into hyperphalangeal paddles. The clavicles are small,
and are overlapped ventrally by the strongly developed acromial processes of the
scapulae. The vertebrae are slightly biconcave or plane. The neck consists of at
least twenty vertebrae; those of the thoracic region have long transverse
processes; the sacral vertebrae are mostly reduced to two or one. Very large,
massive animals.
Fam. 1. Pliosauridae.–About twenty cervical vertebrae, with proximally bifurcated

ribs. The scapulae do not meet ventrally; they enclose with the coracoids a single
large foramen, and are fused with the clavicles. Pliosaurus, the principal genus,
contains several species of gigantic size; for instance, P. grandis, of the
Kimmeridge clay, Upper Oolite, of England, has a skull {478}nearly 5 feet long and
2 feet broad, armed with many enormous conical teeth, some of which reach one foot
in length, inclusive of the long collar and root-portion. The neck is rather short,
owing to the much condensed, disc-shaped centra of the vertebrae. Total length of
this species about 30 feet. Other species in England and continental Europe as far
as Russia.
Fam. 2. Plesiosauridae.–The neck is very long, and consists of from twenty-eight to

forty vertebrae. The scapulae do not meet ventrally, but the symphysial portion of
the coracoids meets the clavicles and the interclavicle, the pectoral arch thus
enclosing two foramina. Chief genus Plesiosaurus, with many species. The head is
comparatively small, the neck very long, the tail short, although consisting of
from thirty to forty vertebrae. The third digit (Fig. 113, C) is the longest, and
possesses nine or ten phalanges. The abdominal ribs are very strong, and reach from
the pectoral to the pelvic girdle. Range from the Lower Trias to the Lower Oolite,
chiefly European. P. dolichodirus and P. conybeari, the latter reaching a total
length of more than 15 feet, from the Lower Lias, especially at Lyme Regis.
Fam. 3. Elasmosauridae.–The neck is extremely long, possessing from thirty-five to

seventy-two vertebrae, with single-headed, not bifurcated, ribs. The scapulae meet
ventrally, and enclose with the very broad coracoids two foramina. The tail is
short. The pisiform bone articulates with the humerus. Otherwise much resembling
the Plesiosauridae. Principal genus Cimoliasaurus, with many synonyms, and many
species from the Middle Oolite to the Upper Chalk; cosmopolitan distribution, e.g.
C. cantabrigiensis, of the Greensand and Upper Chalk; C. trochantericus, of the
Kimmeridge clay; C. haasti in New Zealand; C. australis, C. chilensis; others in
North America. Cryptoclidus of the Middle and Upper Oolite of Europe. Elasmosaurus,
of the Upper Cretaceous formation in Kansas, with a computed total length of 45
feet, of which 22 belong to the neck, with its seventy-two vertebrae.
Sub-Class VIII.–ICHTHYOSAURIA.
Marine, whale-shaped reptiles, with the anterior and posterior limbs transformed
into hyperphalangeal paddles. Restricted to the Mesozoic age from the Trias to the
Upper Chalk.
The skull is long, owing to the elongated slender snout, which {479}is formed
mainly by the premaxillary bones. The nostrils lie far back, in front of the
orbits, and are bordered by the long nasals, the premaxillaries, a small part of
the maxillaries, and posteriorly by the large lacrymal bones. The eyes are large,
and are strengthened by a sclerotic ring composed of many closely overlapping
bones. The orbits are very large, and are directed sideways so as to be scarcely
visible from above. They are formed above by the long prefrontals, which join the
postfrontals; behind by the long postorbitals; below by the long and slender
jugals; in front by the lacrymals and prefrontals. The postorbito-temporal region
of the skull is short but high, and, with the exception of the supratemporal
foramen, is entirely closed in by bones, namely, the quadrato-jugals,
supratemporals, and squamosals. The latter, with the parietals and large
postfrontals, surround the supratemporal foramina. The parietals and the small
frontals enclose the parietal foramen. The whole temporal arch consequently recalls
much that of the Pareiasauri and Stegocephali, chiefly owing to the presence of
conspicuous supratemporal and postorbital bones, which, together with the quadrato-
jugal, close in the whole side without any indication of a lateral or infratemporal
foramen. The postorbital completely separates the jugal from the quadrato-jugal,
and this almost hides the quadrate. The occipital condyle is single. The lateral
occipitals and the supra-occipital bones retain their sutures. The pro-otic and
opisthotic bones remain separate. The latter lie between the basi- and lateral
occipitals, the squamosal, quadrate, and pterygoid. The pterygoids, which
posteriorly touch the quadrato-jugals, basi-occipitals, opisthotics, and
basisphenoid, are very long and remain widely separated from each other; in the
space between them appears the long ensiform presphenoid. Anteriorly they are
connected through the ectopterygoids with the maxillae, and touch the palatines.
These are likewise narrow and slender, but touch each other in the middle line, and
contain the well-separated, slit-like choanae, laterally to which lie the
elongated, rather narrow, palatal vacuities. The vomers are mostly not visible;
when they appear on the surface they are long and narrow, and enclose the choanae
between them and the palatines.
The teeth are pointed, conical and thickly covered with enamel, which in transverse
sections forms vertical ridges, recalling {480}the folds of the Labyrinthodonts.
The teeth have open roots, and are not implanted in separate alveoli, but lie in
long grooves of the premaxillaries, maxillaries, and dentals.
The vertebrae are numerous, up to 150, two-thirds of which belong to the tail. The
centra are deeply biconcave and short, not co-ossified with the neural arches,
which have therefore often broken loose. The atlas much resembles the other
cervical vertebrae in so far as its centrum is concave in front and scarcely
ankylosed with that of the second. Its basiventrals, equivalent to the ventral half
of the atlas-ring of other reptiles, thus become an unpaired intercentral wedge,
between the first centrum and the basis of the cranium; the neural arches rest upon
the centrum, but remain separate from each other, or at least diverge dorsally. The
atlas carries no ribs. Intercentra occur also between the second and third
vertebrae; they reappear in the tail as chevron-bones. All the other vertebrae
carry ribs, which gradually increase in length towards the trunk and decrease again
equally gradually on the tail. In the neck and trunk they have separate capitula
and tubercula, which articulate upon short knobs of the centra; towards the tail
these shift farther and farther towards the ventral side, and ultimately unite.
Although the ribs of the trunk are so long, there is no trace of a sternum, but
there are many "abdominal ribs" crowded together, each consisting of a middle and a
pair of lateral pieces.

Nuevo Documento de Texto

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nuevo Documento de Texto

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nuevo Documento de Texto

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

si

Fam. 2. Nothosauridae.–With sixteen to twenty-one cervical and three to five sacral

Anarosaurus pumilio, of the Muschelkalk, near Magdeburg, and Neusticosaurus and

Order II. PLESIOSAURI.

Fam. 1. Pliosauridae.–About twenty cervical vertebrae, with proximally bifurcated

Fam. 2. Plesiosauridae.–The neck is very long, and consists of from twenty-eight to

Fam. 3. Elasmosauridae.–The neck is extremely long, possessing from thirty-five to

You might also like