A new plesiosaur from the Jurassic of Germany

Franconiasaurus brevispinus is a new early plesiosaur established based on two three-dimensionally preserved skeletons from the Lower Jurassic of Germany. It lived during the late Toarcian (∼175 Mya), near the onset of an Early–Middle Jurassic turnover of marine reptiles. Franconiasaurus displays an intriguing combination of characters of early and later-diverging plesiosaurs. Phylogenetic analyses place it as the sister taxon to Cryptoclidia, bridging an evolutionary gap between Plesiosaurus-like forms and microcleidids on the one hand, and cryptoclidids, leptocleidians, and elasmosaurids on the other hand.   Reconstruction: Joschua Knüppe