Australia's first near complete elasmosaur discovered

[Faelrin]

I'm about to go to bed but stumbled upon this and thought I had to share. Looks to have a well preserved skull and other post cranial remains:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-07/fossil-discovery-queensland-museum-townsville-plesiosaur/101735306?fbclid=IwAR35qZHR3ww14KThz-mO26Kd27V8ItX1xumju9YEmjR3-ZAL6PDEr5hu-zI

[Faelrin]

@dinotoyforum Did you happen to see this yet? Thoughts?

[Halichoeres]

The phrasing of the article is a little sneaky: "It is the first time in Australia the head and body of an elasmosaur, a type of plesiosaur, has been found in one piece."

But other elasmosaurs have been found in Australia. From what I can work out, it seems that Eromangosaurus is known from a skull but no body, and Woolungasaurus is known from a body but no skull. I wonder if this new material will be referable to one of those existing genera, or if it will eventually get its own name.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres I'm not too familiar with marine reptiles as it is, so I wasn't aware there were remains already found there for elasmosaurs. Thanks for sharing that information. I'll update the title to reflect that.