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Genus of polycotylid plesiosaurs
This article is about the plesiosaur genus. For musical genre, see Martinetes.
Martinectes is an extinct genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late CretaceousSharon Springs Formation of the United States. The genus contains a single speciesM. bonneri, known from multiple skeletons and skulls. Martinectes was historically considered to represent a species of the genus Trinacromerum and later Dolichorhynchops before it was moved to its own genus. It was a large polycotylid measuring around 6–7 metres (20–23 ft) long.
Two very large specimens of a polycotylid plesiosaur (KUVP 40001 and 40002) were collected from the Pierre Shale of Wyoming and later reported on by Adams in her 1997 Masters thesis, and in the same year, she officially described the specimens as a new species of Trinacromerum (T. bonneri). The specific name honoured University of Kansas preparator Orville Bonner. Unknown to her at the time, Carpenter (1996) had revised the Polycotylidae and separated Dolichorhynchops from Trinacromerum, raising the question as to whether or not the specimens represented a separate species or just larger individuals of D. osborni. A study in 2008 found that T. bonneri is a valid species of Dolichorhynchops, D. bonneri. Carpenter (1996) estimated that KUVP 40001, with a skull measuring 98 centimetres (3.22 ft) long, had a total body length of more than approximately 5.1 metres (17 ft). Everhart (2017) suggested that KUVP 40001 would have measured up to 6–7 metres (20–23 ft) in length. A 2023 study assigns D. bonneri to a new genus, Martinectes; the name means "Martin's swimmer".
Adams, D. A. (1997). "Trinacromerum bonneri, new species, last and fastest pliosaur of the Western Interior Seaway". Texas Journal of Science. 49 (3): 179–198.
O'Keefe, F. R. (2008). "Cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Dolichorhynchops bonneri new combination, a polycotylid (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Pierre Shale of Wyoming and South Dakota". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (3): 664–676. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[664:caatod]2.0.co;2. S2CID32099438.
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