Plesiosauria indet.

O’Gorman, José Patricio & Otero, Rodrigo A., 2023, Revision of the short-necked Cretaceous plesiosaurians from New Zealand, Comptes Rendus Palevol 22 (6), pp. 77-90 : 84-86

Plesiosauria indet.

( Fig. 5 F-H)

Pliosauridae gen. et sp. indet . – Wiffen & Moisley 1986: 249.

MATERIAL. — NPC CD 461 , nine caudal articulated vertebrae, all damaged by erosion, three ribs and a pubis fragment .

LOCALITY AND HORIZON. — Mangahouanga Stream , a northern tributary of Te Hoe River , inland Hawke’s Bay, North Island ( Fig. 1), New Zealand. Maungataniwha Sandstone Member of the Tahora Formation. Upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian ( Vajda & Raine 2010).

REMARKS

These vertebrae were interpreted as a cervicals by Wiffen & Moisley (1986). This sequence is reinterpreted here as caudal vertebrae, as the associated ribs show typical elasmosaurid features (straight and dorsoventrally compressed). Therefore, pliosaurid affinities can be discarded. Wiffen & Moisley (1986) mentioned that both NZGS CD 460 and 461 could belong to the same specimen. The similar growth stage, similar size and the anatomically complementary remains of both specimens support that assumption. Additionally, both specimen preserved part of a pubis. If these are indeed a single specimen, these represent the sacral and anterior caudal part of a juvenile plesiosaur, probably belonging to an elasmosaurid.