page_title: Timeline of plesiosaur research
section_title: 2000s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of plesiosaur research / 21st century / 2000s
caption_attribution_description: English: speculative live reconstructionof the monster of Aramberri, a giant pliosaur discovered in Mexico
context_page_description: This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic Era. The first scientifically documented plesiosaur fossils were discovered during the early 19th century by Mary Anning. Plesiosaurs were actually discovered and described before dinosaurs. They were also among the first animals to be featured in artistic reconstructions of the ancient world, and therefore among the earliest prehistoric creatures to attract the attention of the lay public. Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles. However, now plesiosaurs are recognized as highly derived marine reptiles descended from terrestrial ancestors.
  Early researchers thought that plesiosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles. They commonly imagined plesiosaurs crawling up beaches and burying eggs like turtles. However, later opinion shifted towards the idea that plesiosaurs gave live birth and never went on dry land.
context_section_description: 2000
  Theagarten Lingham-Soliar published further criticism of Robinson's interpretation of the biomechanics of plesiosaur locomotion.
  O'Keefe described the new species Hauffiosaurus zanoni.
  Michael Everhart re-examined UNSM 1195.
  Lingham-Soliar argued that plesiosaur hind-flippers weren't mobile or muscular enough to help propel them through the water.
  Everhart published a study of the gastroliths associated with the elasmosaur specimen KUVP 129744 from Kansas. The specimen was associated with roughly 13.1 kg of gastroliths. The largest of these was 17 cm long and 1.4 kg in weight. Everhart would later compare its size to that of a softball and observe that not only was it one of the largest known plesiosaur gastroliths, but also one of the largest gastroliths from any animal.
  November
  The Advertiser, a newspaper based in Adelaide, Australia bought the Addyman opalized plesiosaur specimen for $25,000 and donated it to the South Australian Museum. A paleontologist at the museum named Ben Kear identified it as a member of the genus Leptocleidus. The two foot long specimen was the smallest specimen of the genus ever found and probably a baby.
  2001
  David J. Cicimiurri and Michael J. Everhart published a study of the Styxosaurus snowii specimen NJSM 15435, which preserved both stomach contents and gastroliths. Among the stomach contents were remains of the bony fish Enchodus. By this point in time at least fifteen different plesiosaur specimens were known with preserved stomach contents. The researchers observed that the Enchodus remains preserved in NJSM 15435 were an example of shifting dietary preferences in plesiosaurs, who fed primarily on cephalopods for most of their evolutionary history, before coming to rely more heavily on fishes during the Late Cretaceous.
  They also noted that some of NJSM 15435's gastroliths were scarred by rounded chips and arc-shaped marks. These were likely inflicted by contact with other gastroliths during the churning of the animal's stomach, and constituted physical evidence that plesiosaurs used their gastroliths to help break down their food during digestion. Cicimurri and Everhart disputed the hypothesis that plesiosaurs used their gastroliths for ballast on the grounds that swallowing and vomiting such stones would be relatively difficult for the long-necked forms and their feeding grounds may have been hundreds of miles from sources of stones.
  Everhart resumed the study of the partially digested plesiosaur skull bones, FHSM VP-13966. He sought the expertise of Ken Carpenter due to his relevant 1996 paper on short-necked plesiosaurs. Carpenter identified the bones as probable Dolichorhynchops remains.
  Noe published another study of Pachycostasaurus. He changed his mind regarding its diet. Where previously he believed it to feed on soft-bodied animals, the robust and "heavily ornamented" build of its teeth suggested it fed on harder, bonier prey.
  September
  Eberhard Frey, Celine Bachy, and Wolfgang Stinnesbeck gave a presentation on the Aramberri pliosaur remains to the European Workshop on Vertebrate Paleontology in Florence, Italy. The paleontologists could not identify its species.
  September 11
  Everhart was forced to cancel plans to examined the Tylosaurus specimen USNM 8898 and its polycotylid dinner USNM 9468 due to the September 11th terrorist attacks.
  November
  Everhart was finally able to examine the tylosaur specimen with the polycotylid stomach contents.
  2001–2002
  Robin O'Keefe publishes a series of papers examining the aspect ratios of plesiosaur flippers and comparing them to the wings of birds, bats, and aircraft. O'Keefe concluded that long-necked plesiosaurs were long distance swimmers, while pliosaurs were more maneuverable.
  2002
  Cruickshank and Fordyce described the new species Kaiwhekea katiki.
  Druckenmiller described the new species Edgarosaurus muddi.
  Michael Everhart examined FHSM VP-398 and found Sternberg's original note revealing that these fossils had been collected at the same site as the 1991 Elasmosaurus discovery. Everhart realized that the remains discovered th
caption: Speculative life restoration of the Aramberri pliosaur.
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