Description
- Plesiosaurus Tooth (Zarafasaura oceanis)
- Upper Cretaceous Age
- Phosphate Deposits
- Khourigba, Morocco North Africa
- This is a nice tooth that measures 1.75″ long and will come in the 3.25″ x 4.25″ Riker Mount with Label as Shown.
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of Mesozoic marine reptiles (marine Sauropsida), belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 205 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution. Plesiosaurs had a broad flat body and a short tail. Their limbs had evolved into four long flippers, which were powered by strong muscles attached to wide bony plates formed by the shoulder girdle and the pelvis. The flippers made a flying movement through the water. Plesiosaurs breathed air, and bore live young; there are indications that they were warm-blooded.
