Lusonectes is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of plesiosaurid from Lower Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 (Toarcian

Toarcian

The Toarcian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, an age or stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 183.0 Ma and 175.6 Ma...

 stage) deposits of Alhadas

Alhadas

Alhadas is a town in Portugal....

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It is known from the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 MG33, a partial skull

Skull

The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

 and articulated mandible

Mandible

The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

. It was found by Henri Émile Sauvage

Henri Émile Sauvage

- Works :Articles in The Popular Science Monthly:* “Amphibious Fishes,” in Popular Science Monthly Volume 9, September 1876* “The Archer-Fishes,” in Popular Science Monthly Volume 12, January 1878* “The Matamata,” in Popular Science Monthly Volume 16, March 1880...

, a french paleontologist, in the 19th century from the São Gião Formation, near Murtede, Portugal. It was first named by Adam S. Smith, Ricardo Araújo and Octávio Mateus

Octávio Mateus

Octávio Mateus is a Portuguese dinosaur paleontologist and biologist . He received his PhD at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2005...

 in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Lusonectes sauvagei. The generic name is derived from the prefix Luso meaning "Portuguese" and nectes ("swimmer" in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

). The specific name honors Henri Émile Sauvage. It is based on a single autapomorphy, a broad triangular parasphenoid cultriform process that is as long as the posterior interpterygoid vacuities, and also on a unique character combination. Cladistic analysis of Jurassic plesiosauroids found Lusonectes to be "microcleidid elasmosaurs", equivalent to the clade Plesiosauridae

Plesiosauridae

Plesiosauridae was a monophyletic family of plesiosaurs.-References:...

after Ketchum and Benson, 2010. Lusonectes is the only diagnostic plesiosaur from Portugal to date.