Ogmodirus 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 plesiosaur

Plesiosaur

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

 with an extremely long neck that lived in the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

. It may be member of the Elasmosauridae

Elasmosauridae

Elasmosauridae was the family of plesiosaurs. They had the longest necks of the plesiosaurs and survived from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. They had a diet of fish and shelless cephalopods.-Size:...

, a group of marine animals related to Elasmosaurus

Elasmosaurus

Elasmosaurus + σαυρος sauros 'lizard') is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous period , 80.5 million years ago.-Description:...

, but the condition of the fossils discovered to date means the genus is dubious

Nomen dubium

In zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...

. 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...

, Ogmodirus martini, was named by Samuel Wendell Williston

Samuel Wendell Williston

Samuel Wendell Williston was an American educator and paleontologist who was the first to propose that birds developed flight cursorially , rather than arboreally . He was also an entomologist, specialising in Diptera.-Early life:Williston was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Samuel Williston and...

 and Roy L. Moodie in 1913. The original specimen consisted of a pelvic girdle, limb elements, and more than fifty cervical (neck) vertebrae discovered in Cloud County, Kansas

Cloud County, Kansas

Cloud County is a county located in North Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 9,533. Its county seat and most populous city is Concordia.-19th century:...

. A second species, Ogmodirus ischiadicus, has since been referred to Styxosaurus

Styxosaurus

Styxosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur of the family Elasmosauridae. Styxosaurus lived during the Santonian and Campanian age of the Cretaceous period.-Etymology:...

. Sepkoski (2002) assigned Ogmodirus to the Plesiosauria

Plesiosauria

Plesiosauria is an order of Mesozoic marine reptiles. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the Early Jurassic Period and became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until the K-T extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.The name "plesiosaur" is used to refer to the order...

.

External links

• Ogmodirus martini from Oceans of Kansas