Spitrasaurus
Extinct genus of reptiles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spitrasaurus is an extinct genus of cryptoclidid[1] plesiosauroid plesiosaur known from the uppermost Jurassic of central Spitsbergen, Norway[2] and likely also Kimmeridge, England.[3] It is named after a syllabic abbreviation for Spitsbergen Travel. Two species have been named: Spitrasaurus wensaasi, honouring volunteer Tommy Wensås, and Spitrasaurus larseni honouring volunteer Stig Larsen.
| Spitrasaurus Temporal range: Tithonian ~ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Superfamily: | †Plesiosauroidea |
| Family: | †Cryptoclididae |
| Genus: | †Spitrasaurus Knutsen, Druckenmiller & Hurum, 2012 |
| Species | |
The holotype, found in 2004, of S. wensaasi is PMO 219 718 and consists of sixty articulated cervical vertebrae and other postcranial material from a juvenile,[2] and the holotype of S. larseni, found in 2010, is SVB 1450, a juvenile skeleton which consists of cervical vertebrae but also of skull material.[2]
A cervical vertebra, MANCH LL 5519c, was found in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in England and was tentatively assigned to cf. Spitrasaurus in 2014 after being compared to Colymbosaurus megadeirus,[3] while more possible Spitrasaurus vertebrae found at Kimmeridge reside within the collection of Steve Etches.