Family
Valid Extinct

Microcleididae

Benson et al. 2012

Microcleididae is an extinct family of basal plesiosauroid plesiosaurs from the Early Jurassic of France, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Currently, the oldest and the most known microcleidid is Eretmosaurus from the middle Sinemurian of the United Kingdom. Microcleididae was formally named and described by Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller in 2012.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
11
Group
Sauroptérygiens
Carnivore aquatic, depth=surface Marine
Microcleididae
click to enlarge
Plesiosaurus homalospondylus. Fig. 1. Skeleton, about 1-10th nat. size. Fig. 2. Thirteenth cervical vertebra of ditto, side view., nat. size. 2a. lb., section of neural spine, ib. Fig. 3. Ib., posterior surface of centrum, ib. Fig. 4. Fourteenth cervical vertebra, under view, ib. Fig. 5. Centrum of third cervical vertebra, side view, ib. Fig. 6. Ib., posterior surface, ib. Fig. 7. Centrum of eighth cervical vertebra, under view, ib. From the Upper Alum Shale, Lias, Whitby. In the British Museum. © J. Dinkel · Public domain · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Sauropterygia Suborder
›
Plesiosauria Order
›
Plesiosauroidea Superfamily
›
Microcleididae Family
Fossil sites 11 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇩🇪 Germany
5
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
4
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
1
🇫🇷 France
1
Geological formations
Posidonia Shale
5
Alum Shale
3
Temporal distribution
Toarcian (184.2–174.7 Ma)
11
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
R. B. J. Benson, M. Evans, and P. S. Druckenmiller. 2012. High diversity, low disparity and small body size in plesiosaurs (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. PLoS ONE 7(3):e31838 DOI ↗
Bibliography (8)
P. Vincent, R. Weis, and G. Kronz, D. Delsate. 2019. Microcleidus melusinae, a new plesiosaurian (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Toarcian of Luxembourg. Geological Magazine 156(1):99-116 DOI ↗
F. Grossmann. 2007. The taxonomic and phylogenetic position of the Plesiosauroidea from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of south-west Germany. Palaeontology 50(3):545-564 DOI ↗
N. Bardet, P. Godefroit, and J. Sciau. 1999. A new elasmosaurid Plesiosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southern France. Palaeontology 42(5):927-952 DOI ↗
M. J. Benton and M. A. Taylor. 1984. Marine reptiles from the Upper Lias (Lower Toarcian, Lower Jurassic) of the Yorkshire coast. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 44(4):399-429 DOI ↗
F. v. Huene. 1923. Ein neuer Plesiosaurier aus dem oberen Lias Württembergs. Jahreshefte des Vereins für Vaterländische Naturkunde in Württemberg 79:3-23
D. M. S. Watson. 1909. On some reptilian remains from the Trias of Lossiemouth (Elgin). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 65:440 DOI ↗
H. W. Dames. 1895. Die Plesiosaurier der süddeutschen Liasformation. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 2:1-83 DOI ↗
R. Owen. 1865. Part I. Sauropterygia. Monographs on the fossil Reptilia of the Liassic formations 17(75):1-40