| Elasmosaurus meaning "thin-plated lizard" because
it had plate like bones in its pelvic girdle (Greek elasmos =
thin plate + sauros = lizard) is a plesiosaur with an extremely
long neck that lived in the late Cretaceous. It was about 14 m (46 ft)
in length and weighed over 2,000 kg (2.2 tons), making it the longest
plesiosaur. It had a large body and four flippers for limbs. More than
half of its length was neck, which had more than 70 vertebrae, more than
any other animal. It had a small head with sharp teeth, and most likely
ate small bony fish, belemnites (similar to squid), lepidotes and
ammonites (mollusks). It swallowed small stones in order to aid its
digestion.
Elasmosaurus was described in 1868 by Edward Drinker Cope from
a fossil discovered in Kansas, USA. Other specimens have been found in
various locations in North America.
In the 19th century, Edward Drinker Cope accidentally placed the head
of an Elasmosaurus on the wrong end (the tail). Othniel Charles
Marsh pointed out the error, and this event is often cited as one of the
causes of their long-lasting and acrimonious rivalry, known as the Bone
Wars.
Cope published his erroneous reconstruction of Elasmosaurus in
August 1869. This was the first time anyone had ever seen an elasmosaur
and it appeared to have a long sinuous tail like a mosasaur. Note that
while O.C. Marsh claimed to have pointed out Cope's error "20 years
after the fact" in an 1890 newspaper article, it was Joseph Leidy who
actually pointed out the problem in print in 1870.[1]
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