Ogmodirus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur found in the Cenomanian-Turonian (Late Cretaceous) Greenhorn Limestone of Kansas.[1][2] The type species, O. martini, was named by Samuel Wendell Williston and Roy Lee Moodie in 1913.[2]
| Ogmodirus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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| Paddle bone of KUVP 441 | |
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| Cervical series of KUVP 441 | |
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| Genus: | †Ogmodirus Williston and Moodie, 1913 |
| Binomial name | |
| †Ogmodirus martini Williston & Moodie, 1913 | |
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Discovery and naming
The holotype, KUVP 441, consists of a pelvic girdle, limb elements, and more than fifty cervical (neck) vertebrae from a juvenile discovered in Cloud County, Kansas by C. Boyce in 1909.[2] KUVP 441 was named as Ogmodirus martini by Williston & Moodie (1913)[2] and the species name was amended to martinii by Moodie (1916), but the original name takes precedence.[3] The holotype was described in detail by Williston & Moodie (1917).[3]
A second species, Ogmodirus ischiadicus (based on specimen KUVP 434), was initially placed within its own genus, Thalassiosaurus,[3] and has since been referred to Styxosaurus.[4] It was placed in Ogmodirus by Willison & Moodie (1917).[3]
Classification
According to Welles (1962),[5] Ogmodirus martini may be member of the Elasmosauridae, a group of marine animals related to Elasmosaurus, but the condition of the fossils discovered to date means the genus is dubious beyond Plesiosauria. Sepkoski (2002) assigned Ogmodirus to the Plesiosauria.[6]
