Nichollssaura 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 leptocleidid

Leptocleididae

Leptocleididae is a family of small-sized plesiosaurs that lived during the Early Cretaceous period . Leptocleidus and Umoonasaurus had round bodies and triangle shaped heads. Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson , transferred Brancasaurus, Kaiwhekea, Nichollssaura and Thililua to this family...

 plesiosaur

Plesiosaur

Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...

 from the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 Boreal Sea

Boreal Sea

The Boreal Sea was a Mesozoic-era seaway that lay along the northern border of Laurasia....

 of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. 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 N. borealis, found in early Albian

Albian

The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch/series. Its approximate time range is 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 99.6 ± 0.9 Ma...

 deposits of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Nichollssaura fills an approximate 40-million-year gap in the fossil record of North American plesiosaurs.
It was discovered in a Syncrude

Syncrude

Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and has a nameplate capacity of of oil, equivalent to about 13% of Canada's consumption...

 mine

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 in Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1994. The fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, missing only the left forelimb

Forelimb

A forelimb is an anterior limb on an animal's body. When referring to quadrupeds , the term foreleg is often instead used....

 and scapula

Scapula

In anatomy, the scapula , omo, or shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus with the clavicle ....

, lost when the beast was discovered accidentally

Serendipity

Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its...

 by 100-ton electric shovel

Electric shovel

A power shovel is a bucket-equipped machine, usually electrically powered, used for digging and loading earth or fragmented rock and for mineral extraction.-Design:...

 operators Greg Fisher and Lorne Cundal.

Etymology

The fossil, named after paleontological

Paleontology

Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

 curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 Betsy Nicholls, originally was named Nichollsia borealis but Nichollsia

Nichollsia

Nichollsia may refer to the following genera of animals:*Nichollsia, a genus of crustacean*Nichollssaura, formerly Nichollsia, an extinct genus of plesiosaur...

was already in use (preoccupied) by a genus of isopods. Thus, the original authors proposed Nichollssaura as a replacement generic name in 2009

2009 in paleontology

-Anomalocaridids:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Cephalopods:Three new species of extinct Octopoda discovered in 2009. The species - Keuppia hyperbolaris, Keuppia levante, and Styletoctopus annae - lived about 95 million years ago, and bear a strong resemblance to modern octopuses, suggesting that the...

.

External links

• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080326-ancient-reptile.html
• http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/betsys-plesiosaur-nichollsia-borealis.html
• http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2008/03/details_on_nichollsia_borealis.php