A marine sauropterygian radiation with a diagnostic Rhaetian record; older Bobosaurus is displayed as an uncertain candidate and does not set the Plesiosauria range.
Represented range205.7–66 Ma
Content packagemarine-reptiles-pterosaurs
PBDBtxn:36454
Evidence boundary
Automated checks cover structure, identifiers, translations and links only; maintainer and external expert review are not complete.
Claim ledger
taxonomy · high
Plesiosauria is represented securely in the Rhaetian by the diagnostic articulated Rhaeticosaurus skeleton; older Bobosaurus remains an uncertain near-plesiosaur candidate rather than accepted diagnostic Plesiosauria.
claim:taxon:plesiosauria:taxonomyfossil-range · high
The claim-linked older bound for diagnostic Plesiosauria is the Rhaetian 205.7–201.4 Ma interval; the younger 66 Ma bound remains a broad composite and Bobosaurus does not pull the range into the Carnian.
claim:taxon:plesiosauria:fossil-rangebiogeography · high
The oldest diagnostic occurrence highlighted here is from the Exter Formation at Bonenburg, Germany; older candidate evidence from northeastern Italy is shown separately.
claim:taxon:plesiosauria:biogeographymorphology · high
Plesiosauria has a distinctive four-flipper body plan; Rhaeticosaurus preserves diagnostic skeletal characters, whereas Bobosaurus presents a less decisive mosaic.
claim:taxon:plesiosauria:morphologyecology · high
Plesiosaurs were marine swimmers, but inferred physiology and four-flipper hydrodynamics remain separate from the directly preserved Rhaeticosaurus skeleton and histology.
claim:taxon:plesiosauria:ecology
Known limits
A missing branch or fossil occurrence does not imply biological absence. Internal nodes are not calibrated divergence estimates.