Brachauchenius

Taxobox
name = "Brachauchenius"
fossil_range = Early - Late Cretaceous

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = "Brachauchenius lucasi" trying to catch "Hesperornis".
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
ordo = Plesiosauria
familia = Pliosauridae
genus = "Brachauchenius"
genus_authority=Williston, 1903 Williston SW. 1903. North American plesiosaurs. "Field Columbian Museum, Pub. 73, Geological Series" 2 (1):1-79. (29 plates)]
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"B. lucasi" Williston, 1903 (type)

"Brachauchenius" is an extinct genus of pliosaur that lived in America (USA and Colombia) during the Cretaceous.

The type species, "Brachauchenius lucasi", lived in the Western Inland Sea of North America around 93.5-89.3 million years ago, during the Turonian stage of the Cretaceous. An older specimen referred to "Brachauchenius" from the Barremian of Colombia represents the first re-occurrence of the non-rhomaleosaurid pliosaurs after a Berriasian-Hauterivian hiatus Hampe O. 2005. Considerations on a "Brachauchenius" skeleton (Pliosauroidea) from the lower Paja Formation (late Barremian) of Villa de Leyva area (Colombia). "Fossil Record - Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin" 8 (1): 37-51.] .

The first known (type) specimen (USNM 4989) was collected by Charles H. Sternberg from Ottawa County, Kansas in 1884 "Everhart MJ. 2005. Oceans of Kansas - A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea". Indiana University Press, 320 pp. ISBN 780253 345479.] Everhart MJ. 2007. Historical note on the 1884 discovery of "Brachauchenius lucasi" (Plesiosauria; Pliosauridae) in Ottawa County, Kansas. "Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions" 110 (3/4): 255-258.] . It had a skull length of about 90 cm. The species was named by S.W. Williston Williston SW. 1907. The skull of "Brachauchenius", with special observations on the relationships of the plesiosaurs. "United States National Museum Proceedings" 32: 477-489. (pls. 34-37)] . A larger specimen (FHSM VP-321 - skull length 170 cm) was collected by George F. Sternberg in 1952 from the Fairport Chalk of Russell County, Kansas, and later described by Carpenter Carpenter K. 1996. A Review of short-necked plesiosaurs from the Cretaceous of the western interior, North America. "Neues Jahbruch für Geol. Palaont. Abh. (Stuttgart)" 201 (2): 259-287.] . Schumacher and Everhart (2005) reported on the age and locality of both Kansas specimens Schumacher BA, Everhart MJ. 2005. A stratigraphic and taxonomic review of plesiosaurs from the old “Fort Benton Group” of central Kansas: A new assessment of old records. "Paludicola" 5 (2): 33-54.] . This pliosaur grew to around 10 meters (30 ft) in length. "Brachauchenius" represents the last known occurrence of a pliosaur in North America.

References

External links

[http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Brachauch.html Oceans of Kansas Paleontology]