Nichollsia (plesiosaur)

Taxobox
name = "Nichollsia"
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous

---

image_caption=Two "Nichollsia" swimming in the Boreal Sea.
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Sauropterygia
ordo = Plesiosauria
subordo = Plesiosauroidea
familia =
genus = "Nichollsia"
genus_authority =
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "N. borealis" (type)

"Nichollsia" (named after paleontological curator Betsy Nicholls) is an extinct genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous Boreal Sea of North America. The type species is "N. borealis", found in early Albian deposits of Alberta, Canada. "Nichollsia" fills an approximate 40-million-year gap in the fossil record of North American plesiosaurs.

It was discovered in a Syncrude mine in Alberta, Canada in 1994. The fossil is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, missing only the left forelimb and scapula, lost when the beast was discovered accidentally by 100-ton electric shovel operators Greg Fisher and Lorne Cundal [http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/betsys-plesiosaur-nichollsia-borealis.html] .

As the generic name "Nichollsia" is preoccupied by an isopod, the original authors will be proposing a replacement generic name. [http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2008/03/details_on_nichollsia_borealis.php] .

References

*Druckenmiller, P.S.; Russell, A.P. (2008). Skeletal anatomy of an exceptionally complete specimen of a new genus of plesiosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Early Albian) of northeastern Alberta, Canada. "Palaeontographica Abteilung A" 283: 1-33.

External links

* http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080326-ancient-reptile.html
* http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/betsys-plesiosaur-nichollsia-borealis.html
* http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2008/03/details_on_nichollsia_borealis.php