Hydrotherosaurus – a Long-necked Elasmosaur from the Late Cretaceous

We get a lot of requests for plesiosaur information and queries regarding whether there are any models available of these marine reptiles.  Plesiosaurs are certainly very popular, these long-necked and agile swimmers seem to have captured the imagination of model collectors and enthusiasts for prehistoric animals.  It is always a pleasure when a new model of these strange, enigmatic creatures is introduced.   A model of a plesiosaur called Hydrotherosaurus (the name means “water beast lizard”) has just been included in our already extensive model range.

Hydrotherosaurus

An Illustration of Hydrotherosaurus (CollectA Dinosaurs)

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The man in the picture provides an approximate scale for this particular plesiosaur.  Hydrotherosaurus is estimated to have been approximately 13 metres long and would have weighed an estimated 2 tonnes.

To view the model of Hydrotherosaurus (CollectA Hydrotherosaurus model) and other models of marine reptiles including ichthyosaurs, pliosaurs and marine crocodiles: Models of Prehistoric Marine Reptiles and Dinosaurs.

One Fossil Skeleton

Hydrotherosaurus is known from just one well-preserved and almost complete fossil skeleton found in Fresno County, California.  Importantly, much of the skull material was found with this specimen and scientists were able to learn about the general shape and structure of elasmosaur skulls from this one discovery.  Hydrotherosaurus was formerly named and described by the American palaeontologist Samuel P. Welles in 1943.  The species name for this particular marine reptile is Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae it is in honour of Annie Montague Alexander, a keen fossil collector and patron of a number of scientific bodies in the United States.  She helped found the University of California Museum of Palaeontology and she was so influential within American scientific circles that she had a number of species of animals named in her honour, including another type of extinct marine reptile, an ichthyosaur.