A new species of plesiosauroid — a group of long-necked marine reptiles — has just come to the surface in Germany’s Posidonia Shale fossil beds.
This 183 million-year-old plesiosauroid lived during the Age of Dinosaurs (252 million years to 66 million years ago), and experts excavated the remains in 1978 in Holzmaden, Southwest Germany. It wasn't until 2025 that it finally has a name — Plesionectes longicollum.
Read More: Plesiosaur Sheds Light on Marine Reptile Evolution During the Jurassic Period
Plesionectes skeleton at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (Image Credit: Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart)
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
According to a new study in Paleontology and Evolutionary Science, the P. longicollum (meaning long-necked near-swimmer) fossil is nearly complete, offering paleontologists a better look and understanding of the marine ecosystems of that time.
The specimen offers not only fossilized bone but also fossilized soft tissues.
"This specimen has ...
