What is Plesiosaur?
{{Taxobox | name = Plesiosaur | fossil_range = <br/>Middle [[Triassic]] to [[Upper Cretaceous]] | image = Plesiosaurus_3DB.jpg | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Reptile|Reptilia]] | superordo = [[Sauropterygia]] | ordo = Plesiosauria | subordo = [[Plesiosauroidea]]<br>[[Pliosauroidea]] | subordo_authority = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1825}} The '''plesiosaurs''' were an [[Order (biology)|order]] of large, [[carnivorous]] [[Ocean|marine]] [[reptile]]s. They flourished from 203 [[million]] years ago (mya) to 66 mya. In 1719, [[William Stukeley]] described the first partial skeleton of a plesiosaur. The great-grandfather of [[Charles Darwin]], Robert Darwin of Elston told him about it.<ref>Stukeley W. 1719. An account of the impression of the almost entire sceleton of a large animal in a very hard stone, lately presented the Royal Society, from Nottinghamshire. ''Philosophical Transactions'', '''30''': 963-968.</ref> [[Mary Anning]] was the first to discover a fairly complete plesiosaur. She found it on the '[[Jurassic Coast]]' of [[Dorset]], England in the winter of 1820/21. The fossil was missing its [[skull]], but in 1823 she found another one, this time complete with its skull. The name ''[[Plesiosaurus]]'' was given to it by the Rev. William Conybeare. The earliest plesiosaur remains are from the Middle [[Triassic]] period.<ref>Benton M.J. 1990. ''The reign of the reptiles''. Quarto N.Y.</ref><sup>p128</sup> The group was important through the [[Jurassic]] and [[Cretaceous]]. They had two large pairs of [[paddle]]s, short tails, short or long necks, and broad bodies. They died out at the [[K/T extinction event]], 65 million years ago.<ref>Carroll R.L. 1988. ''Vertebrate paleontology and evolution''. Freeman N.Y. </ref><ref>Tutin S. & Butler R. 2017. The completeness of the fossil record of plesiosaurs, marine reptiles from the Mesozoic. ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica''. doi: 10.4202/app.00355.2017</ref> == Description == Plesiosaurs had many bones in their flippers, m