Original paper

Plesiosaur locomotion - underwater flight versus rowing

Tarsitano, S.; Riess, Jh.

Image of first page of:

Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen Band 164 Heft 1-2 (1982), p. 188 - 192

19 references

published: Dec 22, 1982

DOI: 10.1127/njgpa/164/1982/188

BibTeX file

ArtNo. ESP155016401042, Price: 29.00 €

Download preview PDF Buy as PDF

Abstract

Recently there has been a revival of an old hypothesis concerning the locomotion of Plesiosaurs (Robinson, 1975, 1978). This hypothesis, which advocates underwater flight, was presented by Conybeare (1824) and expanded by Fraas (1905), Abel (1908, 1912) and Williston (1903, 1906, 1908). However, it was Robinson (1975) who first applied the hydrodynamic aspects of underwater flight to plesiosaurs. The idea that plesiosaurs were rowers rather than underwater flyers was introduced by Watson (1924). It was Watson's theory of rowing which enjoys the general consensus of most vertebrate paleontologists (Romer, 1956; Tarlo, 1958; Newman & Tarlo, 1967). Thus, there are at present two views on plesiosaur locomotion: rowing and underwater flying.

Keywords

rowers • underwater flyers • plesiosaur locomotion • limb morphology • wing • oar