Mauriciosaurus is a short-necked plesiosaur, bearing a drop-shaped body with a small tail.
The type specimen of Mauriciosaurus measures 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) long, and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) wide at the flippers.
However, this specimen is immature, judging by the lack of fusion in the cervical vertebrae; the coracoids bearing no forward projections that interlock with the clavicles; the thin bones of the shoulder and hip girdles; the lack of a ridge on the top surface of the scapula; the short ischia; and the presence of gaps (filled by extensive cartilage in life) between the long bones of the flippers.
The palate is mineralized, suggesting that the specimen was still at least a subadult.
Adult individuals would have grown up to twice the length of the type specimen.
Mauriciosaurus is a short-necked plesiosaur, bearing a drop-shaped body with a small tail. The type specimen of Mauriciosaurus measures 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) long, and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) wide at the flippers. However, this specimen is immature, judging by the lack of fusion in the cervical vertebrae; the coracoids bearing no forward projections that interlock with the clavicles; the thin bones of the shoulder and hip girdles; the lack of a ridge on the top surface of the scapula; the short ischia; and the presence of gaps (filled by extensive cartilage in life) between the long bones of the flippers. The palate is mineralized, suggesting that the specimen was still at least a subadult. Adult individuals would have grown up to twice the length of the type specimen.
Mauriciosaurus