Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.

Elasmosaurid plesiosaurians are renowned for their immensely long necks, and indeed, possessed the highest number of cervical vertebrae for any known vertebrate. Historically, the largest count has been attributed to the iconic Elasmosaurus platyurus from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas, but estimates...

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Autores principales:	Sven Sachs, Benjamin P Kear, Michael J Everhart
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/338f543f4cbb4bf98dd1374e7cd624a5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:338f543f4cbb4bf98dd1374e7cd624a52021-11-18T09:01:14ZRevised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0070877https://doaj.org/article/338f543f4cbb4bf98dd1374e7cd624a52013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23940656/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Elasmosaurid plesiosaurians are renowned for their immensely long necks, and indeed, possessed the highest number of cervical vertebrae for any known vertebrate. Historically, the largest count has been attributed to the iconic Elasmosaurus platyurus from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas, but estimates for the total neck series in this taxon have varied between published reports. Accurately determining the number of vertebral centra vis-à-vis the maximum length of the neck in plesiosaurians has significant implications for phylogenetic character designations, as well as the inconsistent terminology applied to some osteological structures. With these issues in mind, we reassessed the holotype of E. platyurus as a model for standardizing the debated cervical-dorsal transition in plesiosaurians, and during this procedure, documented a "lost" cervical centrum. Our revision also advocates retention of the term "pectorals" to describe the usually three or more distinctive vertebrae close to the cranial margin of the forelimb girdle that bear a functional rib facet transected by the neurocentral suture, and thus conjointly formed by both the parapophysis on the centrum body and diapophysis from the neural arch (irrespective of rib length). This morphology is unambiguously distinguishable from standard cervicals, in which the functional rib facet is borne exclusively on the centrum, and dorsals in which the rib articulation is situated above the neurocentral suture and functionally borne only by the transverse process of the neural arch. Given these easily distinguishable definitions, the maximum number of neck vertebrae preserved in E. platyurus is 72; this is only three vertebrae shorter than the recently described Albertonectes, which together with E. platyurus constitute the "longest necked" animals ever to have lived.Sven SachsBenjamin P KearMichael J EverhartPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 8, p e70877 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sven Sachs Benjamin P Kear Michael J Everhart Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
description	Elasmosaurid plesiosaurians are renowned for their immensely long necks, and indeed, possessed the highest number of cervical vertebrae for any known vertebrate. Historically, the largest count has been attributed to the iconic Elasmosaurus platyurus from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas, but estimates for the total neck series in this taxon have varied between published reports. Accurately determining the number of vertebral centra vis-à-vis the maximum length of the neck in plesiosaurians has significant implications for phylogenetic character designations, as well as the inconsistent terminology applied to some osteological structures. With these issues in mind, we reassessed the holotype of E. platyurus as a model for standardizing the debated cervical-dorsal transition in plesiosaurians, and during this procedure, documented a "lost" cervical centrum. Our revision also advocates retention of the term "pectorals" to describe the usually three or more distinctive vertebrae close to the cranial margin of the forelimb girdle that bear a functional rib facet transected by the neurocentral suture, and thus conjointly formed by both the parapophysis on the centrum body and diapophysis from the neural arch (irrespective of rib length). This morphology is unambiguously distinguishable from standard cervicals, in which the functional rib facet is borne exclusively on the centrum, and dorsals in which the rib articulation is situated above the neurocentral suture and functionally borne only by the transverse process of the neural arch. Given these easily distinguishable definitions, the maximum number of neck vertebrae preserved in E. platyurus is 72; this is only three vertebrae shorter than the recently described Albertonectes, which together with E. platyurus constitute the "longest necked" animals ever to have lived.
format	article
author	Sven Sachs Benjamin P Kear Michael J Everhart
author_facet	Sven Sachs Benjamin P Kear Michael J Everhart
author_sort	Sven Sachs
title	Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
title_short	Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
title_full	Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
title_fullStr	Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
title_full_unstemmed	Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.
title_sort	revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" elasmosaurus platyurus cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in plesiosauria.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/338f543f4cbb4bf98dd1374e7cd624a5
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Revised vertebral count in the "longest-necked vertebrate" Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope 1868, and clarification of the cervical-dorsal transition in Plesiosauria.

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