Elasmosauridae

Elasmosauridae
Fossil range: Early Jurassic-Late Cretaceous
Elasmosaurusplatyurus Scientific classificationKingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Plesiosauria
Suborder: Plesiosauroidea
Family: Elasmosauridae
Cope, 1869

Genera

Aphrosaurus
Aristonectes
Brancasaurus
Callawayasaurus
Elasmosaurus
Fresnosaurus
Futabasaurus
Goniosaurus
Hydralmosaurus
Hydrotherosaurus
Libonectes
Mauisaurus
Microcleidus
Morenosaurus
Occitanosaurus
Ogmodirus
Orophosaurus
Piptomerus
Styxosaurus
Terminonatator
Thalassomedon
Tuarangisaurus
Woolungasaurus

Elasmosauridae was the family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Early Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. They had a diet of fish and shelless cephalopods.

Size

The earliest elasmosaurids were small, about 3 m. At the end of the Cretaceous, elasmosaurids grew as large as 14 m., such as Elasmosaurus. Their necks were the longest of all the plesiosaurs, with anywhere between 32 to 71 cervical vertebrae They weighed up to several tons.