Woolungasaurus

Woolungasaurus is a dubious genus of plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, belonging to the Elasmosauridae.

History

The type species, Woolungasaurus glendowerensis, was named after Glendower Station by Per [Ove Persson] in 1960, is known from a partial skeleton, holotype QM F6890, unearthed from the Wallumbilla Formation of the Richmond District, Queensland, Australia. Another find of undetermined species, consisting of twelve vertebrae, was unearthed from the Maree Formation of Neales River, near Lake Eyre, South Australia. A skull formerly referred to this genus from Yambore Creek, near Maxwelton, Queensland, is now the holotype of Eromangasaurus.

However, because of the uninformative, flawed diagnosis of Persson, Welles considered Woolungasaurus a nomen dubium. In 2004, the genus was referred to Styxosaurus by Sven Sachs in 2004. Kear disagreed with this view and followed the interpretation by Welles, rendering the genus to be an indeterminate elasmosaurid.