Ogmodirus
Extinct genus of reptiles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ogmodirus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur found in the Cenomanian-Turonian (Late Cretaceous) Greenhorn Limestone of Kansas.[1][2] The type species, Ogmodirus martini, was named by Samuel Wendell Williston and Roy Lee Moodie in 1913.[2]
| Ogmodirus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| |
| Paddle bone of KUVP 441 | |
 | |
| Cervical series of KUVP 441 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Superfamily: | †Plesiosauroidea |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Ogmodirus Williston and Moodie, 1913 |
| Species: | †O. martini |
| Binomial name | |
| †Ogmodirus martini Williston & Moodie, 1913 | |
Discovery and naming
The holotype, KUVP 441, consists of a pelvic girdle, limb elements, and more than fifty cervical (neck) vertebrae from a juvenile discovered in Cloud County, Kansas by C. Boyce in 1909.[2] KUVP 441 was named as Ogmodirus martini by Williston & Moodie (1913)[2] and the specific name was emended to martinii by Moodie (1916), but the original name takes precedence.[3] The holotype was described in detail by Williston & Moodie (1917).[3]
A second species, Ogmodirus ischiadicus (based on specimen KUVP 434), was initially placed within its own genus, Thalassiosaurus,[3] and has since been referred to Styxosaurus.[4] It was placed in Ogmodirus by Williston & Moodie (1917).[3]
Classification
According to Welles (1962),[5] Ogmodirus martini may be member of the Elasmosauridae, a group of marine animals related to Elasmosaurus, but the condition of the fossils discovered to date means the genus is dubious beyond Plesiosauria. Sepkoski (2002) assigned Ogmodirus to the Plesiosauria.[6]