Ogmodirus

Ogmodirus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur found in the Cenomanian-Turonian Greenhorn Limestone of Kansas. The type species, Ogmodirus martini, was named by Samuel Wendell Williston and Roy [Lee Moodie] in 1913.

Discovery and naming

The holotype, KUVP 441, consists of a pelvic girdle, limb elements, and more than fifty cervical vertebrae from a juvenile discovered in Cloud [County, Kansas] by C. Boyce in 1909. KUVP 441 was named as Ogmodirus martini by Williston & Moodie and the specific name was emended to martinii by Moodie, but the original name takes precedence. The holotype was described in detail by Williston & Moodie.
A second species, Ogmodirus ischiadicus, was initially placed within its own genus, Thalassiosaurus, and has since been referred to Styxosaurus. It was placed in Ogmodirus by Williston & Moodie.

Classification

According to Samuel [Paul Welles|Welles], Ogmodirus martini may be member of the Elasmosauridae, a group of marine animals related to Elasmosaurus, but the condition of the fossils discovered to date means the genus is dubious beyond Plesiosauria. Sepkoski assigned Ogmodirus to the Plesiosauria.