The original scale image of Tyrannosaurus from its description.
"Tyrannosaurus and Other Cretaceous Carnivorous Dinosaurs" (1905) a paper by Henry Fairfield Osborn. As the research paper which first described the dinosaur species Tyrannosaurus rex, this paper is of great scientific and historic significance. Tyrannosaurus rex, or T. rex as it is often known as, is one of the most well-known species of dinosaur, and was a large carnivorous dinosaur which lived during the Cretaceous Period. It was one of the last non-avian dinosaur species to become extinct during the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction event, which took place around 65 million years ago.
In 1902, the American Museum expedition in Montana, led by Mr. Barnum Brown, and accompanied by Professor R. S. Lull, secured considerable portions of the skeleton of one of the great Carnivorous Dinosaurs of Upper Cretaceous or Laramie age. Additional portions of this skeleton (Amer. Mus. No. 973) are now (1905) being taken out. I propose to make this animal the type of the new genus Tyrannosaurus, in reference to its size, which greatly exceeds that of any carnivorous land animal hitherto described.
I also briefly characterize as Dynamosaurus another carnivorous dinosaur, with dermal plates, found by Mr. Brown in 1900. The carnivorous group has hitherto been considered as belonging to the single genus Dryptosaurus, but it is probably little less diversified than its herbivorous contemporaries among the Iguanodontia and Ceratopsia. The generic distinctions which are herein indicated by partially studied remains will probably be intensified by future research. Geological, geographical, and morphological considerations render it a priori probable not only that the above genera as well as Deinodon are distinct from Dryptosaurus but that a fifth Cretaceous genus of somewhat more primitive character, which may be called Albertosaurus, is represented in the British Columbia skulls hitherto described as Dryptosaurus.
Cruickshank, A. R. I. (1994a). "Cranial anatomy of the Lower Jurassic pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus megacephalus (Stutchbury) (Reptilia: Plesiosauria)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B. 343: 247–260.
Cruickshank, A. R. I. (1994b). "A juvenile plesiosaur (Plesiosauria: Reptilia) from the Lower Lias (Hettangian: Lower Jurassic)of Lyme Regis, England: a pliosauroid-plesiosauroid intermediate?". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 112: 151–178.
Delair, J. B. (1959). "The Mesozoic reptiles of Dorset. Part 2". Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 80: 52–90.
Persson, P. O. (1963). "A revision of the classification of the Plesiosauria with a synopsis of the stratigraphical and geographical distribution of the group". Lunds Universitet A0rsskrift. 59: 1–60.
Powell, H. P.; Edmonds, J. M. (1978). "List of type-fossils in the Philpot Collection, Oxford University Museum". Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. 98: 43–53.
Storrs, G. W. (1991). "Anatomy and relationships of Corosaurus alcovensis (Diapsida: Sauropterygia) and the Triassic Alcova Limestone of Wyoming". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 44: 1–151.
Storrs, G. W. (1993a). "Function and phylogeny in sauropterygian (Diapsida) evolution". American Journal of Science. 293-A: 63–90.
Storrs, G. W. (1993b). "The systematic position of Silvestrosaurus and a classification of Triassic sauropterygians (Neodiapsida)". Pal'a'ontologische Zeitschrift. 67: 177–191.
Storrs, G. W. (1994). "Fossil vertebrate faunas of the British Rhaetian (latest Triassic)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 112: 217–259.
Storrs, G. W.; Taylor, M. A. (1996). "Cranial anatomy of a new plesiosaur genus from the lowermost Lias (Rhaetian/Hettangian) of Street, Somerset, England". Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 16: 403–420.
Taylor, M. A. (1992). "Functional anatomy of the head of the large aquatic predator Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus (Plesiosauria, Reptilia) from the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic of Yorkshire, England". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B. 335: 247–280.
Taylor, M. A.; Cruickshank, A. R. I. (1993). "Cranial anatomy and functional morphology of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus (Reptilia: Plesiosauria) from the Upper Jurassic of Westbury, Wiltshire". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B. 341: 399–418.
Torrens, H. S. (1995). "Mary Anning (1799-1847) of Lyme: "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew."". British Journal for the History of Science. 28: 257–284.
Tschanz, K. (1989). "Lariosaurus buzzii n. sp. from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) with comments on the classification of nothosaurs". Palaeontographica A. 208: 153–179.
Watson, D. M. S. (1924). "The elasmosaurid shoulder-girdle and forelimb". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 885–917.
White, T. E. (1940). "Holotype of Plesiosaurus longirostris Blake and classification of the plesiosaurs". Journal of Paleontology. 14: 451–467.
19th century
1821
De la Beche and Conybeare published a sketchy description of some poorly preserved fossils found in various places and rock layers in southwestern England, for which they coined the genus name Plesiosaurus.~145-146 and 150~ However, the separate origins of these "Plesiosaurus" specimens suggest that they actually came from multiple different kinds of animal. Complicating matters further, these remains were later disposed of so the exact identity of their source the cannot be verified or inferred from the inadequate description in the text. De la Beche and Conybeare also failed to designate a type species for their new genus.~150~
For comments on the geographic source and preservation of the original Plesiosaurus fossils, see 145-146. For comments on their stratigraphic provenance, see 150. For the original publication, see.
1822
1823
1824
1829
1840
Owen described the species Plesiosaurus hawkinsi.renamed by Storrs and Taylor 1996.~179~
Owen also described the species Plesiosaurus macromus.~180~
1848
1865
Owen described the species Plesiosaurus homalospondylus and P. rostratus. These species are now respectively classified in the genera Microcleidus and Archaeonectrus.~179~
Seeley described the species Plesiosaurus cliduchus.~180~
1874
1880
1882
1890
Lydekker found Plesiosaurus pirscus, named by Parkinson in 1822, to be a nomen dubium.~150-151~
He also found "Plesiosaurus" cliduchus to be synonymous with P. dolichodeirus.~180~
1895
Dames described the new species Plesiosaurus guilelmiiperatoris.[1]
20th century
1909
Watson erected the new genus Microcleidus for the species "Plesiosaurus" homalospondylus described by Owen in 1865.~179~
1923
Huene described the new species Plesiosaurus brachypterygius.~179~
1940
1964
Novozhilov erected the new genus Archaeonectrus for the species "Plesiosaurus" rostratus described by Owen in 1865.~179~
1981
1990
Sciau and others contended that Plesiosaurus tournemirensis is a distinctive species in that genus.~146~
1993
Storrs observed that the plesiosaurs' use of flippers with extra phalanges as their primary means of locomotion was unique among formerly terrestrial animal groups that adapted to aquatic life.[2]
Robert T. Bakker erected the new genus Attenborosaurus for the species "Plesiosaurus" conybeare, described by Sollas in 1881.
21st century
2001
Adams, D. A. (1997). "Trinacromerum bonneri, New Species, Last and Fastest Pliosaur of the Western Interior Seaway". Texas Journal of Science. 49 (3): 179–198.
Carpenter, Kenneth (1999). "Revision of North American Elasmosaurs from the Cretaceous of the Western Interior". Paludicola. 2 (2). Stuttgart: 148–173.
Chatterjee, S.; Zinsmeister, W. J. (1982). "Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula". Antarctic Journal. 17 (5): 66.
Cicimurri, D. J.; Everhart, M. J. (2001). "An Elasmosaur with Stomach Contents and Gastroliths from the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous) of Kansas". Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions. 104 (3–4): 129–143.
Cope, Edward Drinker (1868). "Remarks on a new Enaliosaurian, Elasmosaurus platyurus". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia. 20: 92–93.
Cope, Edward Drinker (1869). "Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America: Part I". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series. 14 (1 ed.): 235.
Cope, Edward Drinker (1870). "Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America: Part I". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series. 14 (2 ed.): 235.
Everhart, Michael J. (2000). "Gastroliths Associated with Plesiosaur Remains in the Sharon Springs Member of the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous), Western Kansas". Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions. 103 (1–2): 58–69.
Everhart, Michael J. (2002). "Remains of Immature Mosasaurs (Squamata; Mosasauridae) from the Niobrara Formation of Western Kansas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22 (Supplement to Number 2): 52A.
Everhart, Michael J. (2003). "First Records of Plesiosaur Remains in the Lower Smoky Hill Chalk Member (Upper Coniacian) of the Niobrara Formation in Western Kansas". Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions. 106 (3–4): 139–148.
Everhart, Michael J. (2004a). "Plesiosaurs as the food of Mosasaurs: New Data on the Stomach Contents of a Tylosaurus proriger (Squamata; Mosasauridae) from the Niobrara Formation of Western Kansas". The Mosasaur. 7: 41–46.
Everhart, Michael J. (2004b). "Conchoidal Fractures Preserved on Elasmosaur Gastroliths are Evidence of Use in Processing Food". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (Supplement to 3): 56A.
Hector, J. (1874). "On the Fossil Reptilia of New Zealand". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 6: 333–364.
Leidy, J. (1870). "[Remarks on Elasmosaurus platyurus]". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 22: 9–10.
Lingham-Soliar, T. "Plesiosaur Locomotion: Is the Four-Wing Problem Real or Merely an Atheoretical Exercise?". Neues Jahrbuch f'u'r Geologie und Palaeontologie. 217. Stuttgart: 45–87.
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