%0 Figure %A Sachs*, Sven %A J. Hornung, Jahn %A Lallensack, Jens N. %A P. Kear, Benjamin %D 2017 %T First evidence of a large predatory plesiosaurian from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of northwestern Germany %U https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/figure/First_evidence_of_a_large_predatory_plesiosaurian_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_non-marine_Wealden_facies_deposits_of_northwestern_Germany/5492533 %R 10.6084/m9.figshare.5492533.v1 %2 https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/9500494 %K Pliosauromorph %K macrocarnivore %K Berriasian %K Deister Formation %K Lower Saxony %X

Sachs, S., Hornung, J.J., Lallensack, J.N. & Kear, B.P., XX.XXXX.2017. First evidence of a large predatory plesiosaurian from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of northwestern Germany. Alcheringa XX, X–X. ISSN 0311-5518.

Here, we describe the incomplete mandible of a large-skulled ‘pliosauromorph’ plesiosaurian from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) of northwestern Germany. The fossil derives from limnic–brackish ‘Wealden facies’ deposits of the Deister Formation (Bückeberg Group), and is preserved as a natural mould in fine-grained sandstone. Examination of the original remains, in conjunction with a three-dimensional photogrammetrically digitized ‘cast’, revealed a conspicuous rosette of symphyseal alveoli, which would otherwise typically characterize Early–Middle Jurassic macrophagous plesiosaurians including rhomaleosaurids and the pliosaurid Simolestes. The Deister Formation ‘pliosauromorph’ represents the first record of a large-bodied plesiosaurian macrocarnivore from the ‘Wealden-facies’ strata of Europe, and thus adds a previously unrecognized trophic level of aquatic apex predators to the Early Cretaceous non-marine ecosystems of Europe.

Sven Sachs* [sachs.pal@gmail.com] Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld, Abteilung Geowissenschaften, Adenauerplatz 2, 33602 Bielefeld, Germany and Im Hof 9, 51766 Engelskirchen, Germany; Jahn J. Hornung [jahn.hornung@yahoo.de] Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover, Willy-Brandt-Allee 5, 30169 Hannover, Germany; Jens N. Lallensack [jens.lallensack@uni-bonn.de] Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany; Benjamin P. Kear [benjamin.kear@em.uu.se] Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, Uppsala SE-752 36, Sweden.

%I Taylor & Francis