Microcleidus

Microcleidus is an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptile belonging to the Plesiosauroidea. The species has 40 neck vertebrae and a short tail of 28 vertebrae. Fossils of the genus have been found in France, the Posidonia Shale in Germany and Luxembourg, and the Alum Shale Formation of England.

Description

The type species, M. homalospondylus, was the largest, measuring long and weighing. Other species were smaller: M. tournemirensis was about long and weighed, and M. melusinae was about long and weighed.

Classification

Species include: Microcleidus homalospondylus and Microcleidus macropterus.
Occitanosaurus tournemirensis, was named by Sciau et al. in 1990, based on a nearly complete skeleton of an animal approximately 4 meters long. It was later found to be a species of Microcleidus.
The following cladogram follows an analysis by Ketchum & Benson, 2011.