Ecomorphology of plesiosaur flipper geometry

@article{OKeefe2001EcomorphologyOP,
  title={Ecomorphology of plesiosaur flipper geometry},
  author={F. Robin O'Keefe},
  journal={Journal of Evolutionary Biology},
  year={2001},
  volume={14}
}
  • F. O'Keefe
  • Published 1 November 2001
  • Biology
  • Journal of Evolutionary Biology
The Plesiosauria is an extinct group of marine reptiles once common in mesozoic seas. Previous work on plesiosaur hunting styles has suggested that short‐necked, large‐headed animals were pursuit predators, whereas long‐necked, small‐headed animals were ambush predators. This study presents new data on the aspect ratios (ARs) of plesiosaur flippers, and interprets these data via comparison with AR in birds, bats and aircraft. Performance trade‐offs implicit in AR variation are well‐understood… 
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An overview of the latest research on the locomotion of extinct secondarily aquatic tetrapods, with a focus on amniotes, highlighting the state‐of‐the‐art experimental approaches used in this field and discussing the suitability of these techniques for exploring different aspects of locomotory adaptation.
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Abstract The dichotomy between short-necked, large-headed “pliosaurs” and long-necked, small-headed “plesiosaurs” has formed the basis of plesiosaur taxonomy for over one hundred years. Recent work…
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