Brancasaurus brancai

Mounted skeleton (holotype).

Taxonavigation

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Cladus: Archelosauria
Superordo: †Sauropterygia
Ordo: †Plesiosauria
Subordo: Plesiosauroidea
Familia: Incertae sedis
Genus: †Brancasaurus
Species: †Brancasaurus brancai

Name

• †Brancasaurus brancai Wegner, 1914: 235

Holotype: GPMM A3.B4, almost complete skeleton.

Type locality: Gerdemann & Co brick-works clay-pit, northeast of Gronau (Westfalen), North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Germany.

Type horizon: Isterberg Formation (“Wealden 6,” Pachycytheridea trapezoidalis ostracod zone), Bückeberg Group, uppermost Berriasian, Lower Cretaceous.

Synonyms

• †Gronausaurus wegneri Hampe, 2013: 475 [synonymized by Sachs, Hornung & Kear (2016: 57)]

Holotype: GMM A3.B2, partial skeleton.

Type locality: “Former pit of Gerdemann & Co. brickworks, Gronau/Münsterland, Westphalia, Germany.”

Type horizon: Bückeburg Formation, Osterwald Succession, Berriasian, Lower Cretaceous.

References

Primary references

• Wegner, T.H. 1914. Brancasaurus brancai n. g. n. sp., ein Elasmosauride aus dem Wealden Westfalens. pp. 235–305 In: Schoendorf, F. (ed.). Festschrift für Wilhelm Branca. Verlag von Gebrüder Borntrager: Leipzig. 494 pp. Reference page. 
• Hampe, O. 2013. The forgotten remains of a leptocleidid plesiosaur (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauroidea) from the Early Cretaceous of Gronau (Münsterland, Westphalia, Germany). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 78(4): 473–491. DOI: 10.1007/s12542-013-0175-3 Reference page. 
• Sachs, S., Hornung, J.J. & Kear, B.P. 2016. Reappraisal of Europe’s most complete Early Cretaceous plesiosaurian: Brancasaurus brancai Wegner, 1914 from the ‘‘Wealden facies’’ of Germany. PeerJ 4: e2813. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2813 Reference page.