Plesiosaurus Fever is Back with Norway Find Announced Today

According to the University of Oslo website, a team of scientists found a new Plesiousaurus skeleton in the Svabard Islands of Norway. It is a new finding amongst a series of findings from the area. According to Wikipedia.com, a Plesiosaur is an aquatic reptile superorder that lived during the early part of the Jurassic and thrived until the K-T extinction (when a meteor crashed into the ocean near Mexico). Scientists classify animals in the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Superorder, Family, Genus. Species system.

A Plesiosaurus is:

* Kingdom-Animal

* Phylum-Chordata(Vertebrates-meaning has a backbone)

* Class-Sauropsida (Giant plant eaters)

* Order-Plesiosauria (long-necked, flippered sea creature with the head of a lizard, teeth of a crocodile and body of a snake[3])

* Superorder-Plesiosauroidea

* Family--Plesiosaurus

* Genus-Plesiosaurus

Part of the popularity of Plesiosaurus is it is the Genus that defined the entire order when it was found by Mary Anning in the early 1800's. The order was officially declared in 1825 by Gray. Plesiosaurs are found around the world in areas that were flooded Kansas, Germany, England, in areas where clay was later covered by limestone called lias, according to Wikipedia.com. With the bones many Jurassic repile fauna are also found according to Plesiosaur.com.]

See a video of a simulated plesiosaurus. Good examples of the bones structures are found on the Plesiosaur.com website and on the University of Oslo website.

The scientists believe the skeleton found may be a new species[ according to the University of Oslo website. Superorder, Family and Genus differences in the Plesiosaurs vary by neck length, tail length, jaw size and type, head size and abdomen area and overall size. The Plesiosaurs with long necks are from Family Elasmosauridae, short necks are Elasmosauridae.