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==History of study== [[File:Officers at Fort Wallace.jpg|thumb|alt=Black and white photo of a group of men in uniforms in front of a wooden building|Officers at [[Fort Wallace]], [[Kansas]], in 1867. Theophilus H. Turner, who the same year discovered ''Elasmosaurus'' in the area, is second from left.]] In early 1867, the American army surgeon Theophilus Hunt Turner and the army scout William Comstock explored the rocks around [[Fort Wallace]], [[Kansas]], where they were stationed during the construction of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]]. Approximately {{convert|23|km|mi|sp=us}} northeast of Fort Wallace, near [[McAllaster, Kansas|McAllaster]], Turner discovered the bones of a large fossil reptile in a ravine in the [[Pierre Shale]] formation, and though he had no paleontological experience, he recognized the remains as belonging to an "extinct monster". In June, Turner gave three fossil vertebrae to the American scientist [[John LeConte]], a member of the railway survey, to take back east to be identified. In December, LeConte delivered some of the vertebrae to the American paleontologist [[Edward Drinker Cope]] at the [[Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia]] (ANSP, known since 2011 as the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University). Recognizing them as the remains of a [[plesiosaur]], larger than any he had seen in Europe, Cope wrote to Turner asking him to deliver the rest of the specimen, at the ANSP's expense.<ref name=Sachs2005/><ref name="TurnerDiscovery">{{cite journal|last1=Everhart|first1=M. J.|s2cid=89988230|title=Captain Theophilus H. Turner and the Unlikely Discovery of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus''|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science|date=2017|volume=120|issue=3–4|pages=233–246|doi=10.1660/062.120.0414}}</ref>{{sfn|Everhart|2005a|pages=121–123}} In December 1867 Turner and others from Fort Wallace returned to the site and recovered much of the vertebral column, as well as concretions that contained other bones; the material had a combined weight of {{convert|800|lbs|kg|sp=us|order=flip}}. The fossils were dug or pried out of the relatively soft [[shale]] with picks and shovels, loaded on a horse-drawn wagon, and transported back to Fort Wallace. Cope sent instructions on how to pack the bones, which were thereafter sent in hay-padded crates on a military wagon east to the railroad, which had not yet reached the fort. The specimen arrived in Philadelphia by rail in March 1868, whereafter Cope examined it hurriedly; he reported on it at the March ANSP meeting, during which he named it ''Elasmosaurus platyurus''. The [[Generic name (biology)|generic name]] ''Elasmosaurus'' is a [[portmanteau]] of the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc-x-classic|ἔλᾰσμᾰ}} (''élăsmă'', "metal plate") prefixed onto {{lang|grc-x-classic|σαῦρος}} (''saûros'', "lizard"), in reference to the "plate" bones of the sternal and pelvic regions. However, this name was translated as "thin-plate reptile" in many later works. The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] also comes from the Ancient Greek {{lang|grc-x-classic|πλατύς}} (''platýs'', "flat") and {{lang|grc-x-classic|ουρά}} (''ourá'', "tail"), all meaning "flat-tailed", in reference to the compressed "tail" (actually the neck) and laminae of the vertebrae there.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/>{{sfn|Everhart|2005a|pages=121–123}}<ref name="ScatteredShattered">{{cite journal|last1=Davidson|first1=J. P.|last2=Everhart|first2=M. J.|title=Scattered and Shattered: A Brief History of the Early Methods of Digging, Preserving and Transporting Kansas Fossils|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science|date=2017|volume=120|issue=3–4|pages=247–258|doi=10.1660/062.120.0416|s2cid=90362192|url=https://www.academia.edu/110911820}}</ref><ref name="Cope 1868">{{cite journal|last1=Cope |first1=E. D. |year=1868 |title=Remarks on a new enaliosaurian, ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=20 |pages=92–93 |url=https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_50660_copeed1868remarksonanewenalios1841}}</ref><ref name="Synopsis"/><ref name="Meaning">{{cite web|title=Ben Creisler's Plesiosaur Pronunciation Guide|year=2012|last=Creisler|first=B.|website=Oceans of Kansas|url=http://oceansofkansas.com/Creisler_Plesiosaurs2.html|access-date = 26 June 2021}}</ref> [[File:Dorsal vertebrae of Elasmosaurus.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Black and white drawing of some connected vertebrae|[[Back vertebrae]] of the [[holotype]], 1869]] Cope requested that Turner search for more parts of the ''Elasmosaurus'' specimen, and was sent more fossils during August or September 1868. The ANSP thanked Turner for his "very valuable gift" at their meeting in December 1868, and Turner visited the museum during spring, at a time when Cope was absent. Turner died unexpectedly at Fort Wallace on July{{nbsp}}27, 1869, without seeing the completion of the work he began, but Cope continued to write him, unaware of his death until 1870. The circumstances around Turner's discovery of the type specimen were not covered in Cope's report, and remained unknown until Turner's letters were published in 1987. ''Elasmosaurus'' was the first major fossil discovery in Kansas (and the largest from there at the time), and marked the beginning of a [[fossil collecting]] rush that sent thousands of fossils from Kansas to prominent museums on the American east coast.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/> ''Elasmosaurus'' was one of few plesiosaurs known from the [[New World]] at the time, and the first recognized member of the long-necked family of plesiosaurs, the [[Elasmosauridae]].<ref name=Sachs2005/> In 1869 Cope [[scientifically described]] and figured ''Elasmosaurus'', and the [[Manuscript (publishing)#Preprint|preprint]] version of the manuscript contained a reconstruction of the skeleton which he had earlier presented during his report at an ANSP meeting in September 1868. The reconstruction showed ''Elasmosaurus'' with a short neck and a long tail, unlike other plesiosaurs, and Cope was also unsure whether it had hind limbs. At an ANSP meeting a year and a half later, in March 1870, the American paleontologist [[Joseph Leidy]] (Cope's mentor) noted that Cope's reconstruction of ''Elasmosaurus'' showed the skull at the wrong end of the vertebral column, at the end of the tail instead of the neck. Cope had apparently concluded that the tail vertebrae belonged to the neck, since the jaws had been found at that end of the skeleton, even though the opposite end terminated in the axis and atlas bones that are found in the neck. Leidy also concluded that ''Elasmosaurus'' was identical to ''[[Discosaurus]]'', a plesiosaur he had named in 1851.<ref name="Synopsis">{{cite journal|last1=Cope|first1=E. D.|title=Synopsis of the extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America, Part I|journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|date=1869|volume=14|pages=44–55|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.60482|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39852057#page/48/mode/1up|hdl=2027/nyp.33433090912423|access-date=November 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108153137/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39852057#page/48/mode/1up|archive-date=November 8, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Boneheaded"/><ref>{{cite journal | last = Leidy | first = J. | title = Remarks on Elasmosaurus platyurus | journal = Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia | volume = 22 | url = http://oceansofkansas.com/Leidy1870.html | pages = 9–10 | year = 1870 | access-date = November 21, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180528074807/http://oceansofkansas.com/Leidy1870.html | archive-date = May 28, 2018 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/> {{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 250 |align = right | header = | image1 = Elasmosaurus Cope.jpg | alt1 = Drawings of a skeleton with an inaccurate long tail and short neck, and various bones | caption1 = [[Edward Drinker Cope]]'s original 1869 reconstruction of ''Elasmosaurus'', above, with the head on the wrong end and no hind-limbs, and holotype elements of ''E.{{nbsp}}platyurus'' (1–9) and ''E.{{nbsp}}orientalis'' (10), below | image2 = Elasmosaurus corrected.jpg | alt2= Drawings of a skeleton with a long neck and various bones | caption2 = Cope's corrected 1870 reconstruction of ''Elasmosaurus'', above }} To hide his mistake, Cope attempted to recall all copies of the preprint article, and printed a corrected version with a new skeletal reconstruction that placed the head on the neck (though it reversed the orientation of the individual vertebrae) and different wording in 1870. In a reply to Leidy, Cope claimed that he had been misled by the fact that Leidy had arranged the vertebrae of ''[[Cimoliasaurus]]'' in the reverse order in his 1851 description of that genus, and pointed out that his reconstruction had been corrected. Cope also rejected the idea that ''Elasmosaurus'' and ''Discosaurus'' were identical, and noted that the latter and ''Cimoliasaurus'' did not have any distinguishing features. Though Cope had tried to destroy the preprints, one copy came to the attention of the American paleontologist [[Othniel Charles Marsh]], who made light of the mistake. This led to antagonism between Cope, who was embarrassed by the mistake, and Marsh, who brought up the mistake repeatedly for decades. Marsh returned to the issue during their controversy in the ''[[New York Herald]]'' in the 1890s (Marsh claimed he had pointed out the error to Cope immediately), when their dispute gained widespread public attention. The argument was part of the "[[Bone Wars]]" rivalry between the two, and is well known in the history of paleontology.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/><ref name="Boneheaded">{{cite journal |last1=Davidson |first1=J. P. |title=Bonehead mistakes: The background in scientific literature and illustrations for Edward Drinker Cope's first restoration of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |year=2002 |volume=152 |issue=1 |pages=215–240 |doi=10.1635/0097-3157(2002)152[0215:HPOVBM]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=146688988|url={{google books|plainurl=yes|id=1vNykbteN30C|page=215}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Marsh |first=O. C. |title=Wrong End Foremost |work=[[New York Herald]] |date=1890 |url=http://www.oceansofkansas.com/NYHerald.html |access-date=February 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413215048/http://oceansofkansas.com/NYHerald.html |archive-date=April 13, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Cope | first = E. D. | title = On ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' Cope | journal = American Journal of Science | series = 2 | pages = 140–141 | url = http://oceansofkansas.com/Cope1870a.html | year = 1870 | volume = 50 | issue = 148 | access-date = September 26, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170828102446/http://oceansofkansas.com/Cope1870a.html | archive-date = August 28, 2017 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cope|first1=E. D.|title=Synopsis of the extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America, Part I|journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society|date=1870|volume=14|pages=44–55|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.60499|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/123170#page/52/mode/1up|hdl=2027/nyp.33433090912423|access-date=November 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112074142/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/123170#page/52/mode/1up|archive-date=November 12, 2017|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Page"/> Because of Cope's reputation as a brilliant paleontologist, it has been questioned why he would make such an obvious anatomical error. It has been suggested that, as a unique specimen in 1868, the original ''Elasmosaurus'' may have been hard to interpret based on the knowledge available at the time. Also, Cope initially thought it consisted of two specimens of different animals{{snd}}in an 1868 letter to LeConte, Cope had referred to the supposed "smaller specimen" as ''Discosaurus carinatus''. Cope was only in his late twenties and not formally trained in paleontology, and may have been influenced by Leidy's mistake of reversing the vertebral column of ''Cimoliasaurus''. In 2002 the American art historian Jane P. Davidson noted that the fact that other scientists early on had pointed out Leidy's error argues against this explanation, adding that Cope was not convinced he had made a mistake. Plesiosaur anatomy was sufficiently well known at the time that Cope should not have made the mistake, according to Davidson.<ref name="Boneheaded"/> Cope did little work on the specimen since his 1870 description, and it was kept in storage for nearly 30 years.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/> It was only redescribed in detail in 2005 by the German paleontologist Sven Sachs.<ref name=Sachs2005/> ===Known and possible fossil elements=== Today, the incomplete [[holotype specimen]], cataloged as ANSP 10081, is the only definite specimen of ''Elasmosaurus''. It was long exhibited, but is now stored in a cabinet with other assigned fragments. The specimen consists of the premaxillae, part of the hind-section of the right maxilla, two maxilla fragments with teeth, the front part of the dentaries, three more jaw fragments, two cranial fragments of indeterminable identity, 72 [[cervical vertebrae]] of the neck, including the atlas and axis, 3{{nbsp}}pectoral vertebrae, 6{{nbsp}}[[back vertebrae]], 4{{nbsp}}sacral vertebrae, 18 tail vertebrae, as well as rib fragments.<ref name="Count"/><ref name=Sachs2005/> In 2013 an incomplete neck vertebra centrum of the holotype that had been mentioned by Cope but thought to have been lost was rediscovered in storage by Sachs, and the neck vertebra count was revised from 71 to 72.<ref name="Count"/> The neck vertebrae have been [[taphonomically]] distorted (changes occurring during decay and [[fossilization]]), with some parts being unnaturally compressed or displaced.<ref name="Elongation">{{cite journal |last1=O’Gorman |first1=José P.|title=How elongated? The pattern of elongation of cervical centra of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' with comments on cervical elongation patterns among plesiosauromorphs |journal=Diversity |year=2024 |volume=16 |issue=2 |at=106 |doi=10.3390/d16020106 |s2cid=267558631 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1986 a three-dimensional reconstruction of the holotype skeleton was completed and is now displayed at the ANSP. This cast was later copied by the company [[Triebold Paleontology Incorporated]], and replicas were provided to other museums. The replica at the Fort Wallace Museum measures about {{convert|12.8|m|sp=us}} in length.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/> [[File:Elasmosaurus girdle elements.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Illustrations of plated bones with holes|Cope's 1869 figures of the now lost pectoral (left) and pelvic (right) girdles of the holotype; the [[generic name (biology)|generic name]] refers to these "plate" bones]] Though Cope described and figured the pectoral and pelvic girdles of ''Elasmosaurus'' in 1869 and 1875, these elements were noted as missing from the collection by the American paleontologist [[Samuel Wendell Williston]] in 1906. Cope had loaned these elements to the English sculptor [[Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins]] to help prepare them out of their surrounding concretions. At the time, Hawkins was working on a "[[Paleozoic Museum]]" in New York's [[Central Park]], where a reconstruction of ''Elasmosaurus'' was to appear, an American equivalent to his life-sized [[Crystal Palace Dinosaurs]] in London. In May 1871 much of the exhibit material in Hawkins' workshop was destroyed by vandals for unclear reasons and their fragments buried; it is possible that the girdle elements of ''Elasmosaurus'' were at the workshop and were likewise destroyed. Nothing was subsequently mentioned about their loss by Hawkins or Cope.<ref name=Sachs2005/><ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/><ref name="williston1906">{{cite journal | last1 = Williston | first1 = S. W. | title = North American plesiosaurs ''Elasmosaurus'', ''Cimoliasaurus'', and ''Polycotylus'' | journal = American Journal of Science | date = 1906 | series = 4 | volume = 21 | issue = 123 | pages = 221–236 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s4-21.123.221 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1450146 | bibcode = 1906AmJS...21..221W | access-date = 2022-12-09 | archive-url = | archive-date = | url-status = }}</ref><ref name="Mystery"/><ref name="Hilton">{{cite journal |last1=Coules |first1=Victoria |last2=Benton |first2=Michael J. |title=The curious case of Central Park's dinosaurs: The destruction of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' Paleozoic Museum revisited |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |date=2023 |volume=134 |issue=3 |pages=344–360 |doi=10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.04.004|bibcode=2023PrGA..134..344C |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 2018, Davidson and Everhart documented the events leading up to the disappearance of these fossils, and suggested that a photo and drawing of Waterhouse's workshop from 1869 appear to show concretions on the floor that may have been the unprepared girdles of ''Elasmosaurus''. They also noted that conceptual sketches of the Palaeozoic Museum show that the model ''Elasmosaurus'' was originally envisioned with a long "tail", though later updated with a long neck. Davidson and Everhart concluded that the girdle fossils were most likely destroyed in Hawkins' workshop.<ref name="Mystery">{{cite journal | last1 = Davidson | first1 = J. P. | last2 = Everhart | first2 = M. J. | s2cid = 91379054 | title = The Mystery of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' Cope 1868 – Where is the rest of the type specimen? | journal = Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science | date = 2018 | volume = 121 | issue = 3–4 | pages = 335–345 | doi = 10.1660/062.121.0403 }}</ref> [[File:Central Park studio.jpg|thumb|1869 drawing of [[Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins]]' workshop in [[Central Park]]; the rounded shapes in the lower center left may be concretions that contained the now missing girdle fossils of the holotype]] Fossils that may have belonged to the holotype were found by the American geologist [[Benjamin Franklin Mudge]] in 1871, but have probably been lost since.<ref name="TurnerDiscovery"/> Additional plesiosaur fossils were recovered near the [[Type (biology)#type locality|original locality]] in 1954, 1991, 1994, and 1998, including back vertebrae, ribs, [[gastralia]] (belly ribs), and [[gastroliths]]. As none of these elements overlap with those of the holotype specimen, in 2005 the American paleontologist Michael J. Everhart concluded they belonged to the same individual, and that the parts had been separated before burial of the carcass. He also noted that a small stone wedged in the neural canal of one of the tail vertebrae of the holotype may be a gastrolith, based on its polished appearance.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Everhart | first = M. J. | title = Elasmosaurid remains from the Pierre Shale (Upper Cretaceous) of western Kansas. Possible missing elements of the type specimen of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' Cope 1868? | journal = PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology | volume = 4 | issue = 3 | date = 2005 | issn = 1567-2158 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242762375 }}</ref> In 2007 the Colombian paleontologists Leslie Noè and Marcela Gómez-Pérez expressed doubt that the additional elements belonged to the type specimen, or even to ''Elasmosaurus'', due to lack of evidence. They explained that elements missing from the holotype may have been lost to weathering or simply not collected, and that parts may have been lost or damaged during transportation or preparation. Gastroliths may also not have been recognized as such during collection, since such stones were not reported from a plesiosaur until ten years after.<ref name=missing>{{cite journal | last1 = Noè | first1 = L. F. | last2 = Gómez–Pérez | first2 = M. | title = Postscript to Everhart, M.J. 2005. "Elasmosaurid remains from the Pierre Shale (Upper Cretaceous) of western Kansas. Possible missing elements of the type specimen of ''Elasmosaurus platyurus'' Cope 1868?" – PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 4, 3: 19–32 | journal = PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology | date = 2007 | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | url = http://www.palarch.nl/2007/04/noe-lf-m-gomez-perez-2007-postscript-to-everhart-mj-2005-%E2%80%9Celasmosaurid-remains-from-the-pierre-shale-upper-cretaceous-of-western-kansas-possible-missing-elements-of-the-type-spec/ | access-date = 2017-11-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171114041109/http://www.palarch.nl/2007/04/noe-lf-m-gomez-perez-2007-postscript-to-everhart-mj-2005-%E2%80%9Celasmosaurid-remains-from-the-pierre-shale-upper-cretaceous-of-western-kansas-possible-missing-elements-of-the-type-spec/ | archive-date = 2017-11-14 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In 2017 Sachs and Joachim Ladwig suggested that a fragmentary elasmosaurid skeleton from the upper Campanian of [[Kronsmoor]] in [[Schleswig-Holstein]], Germany, and housed in the [[Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld]], may have belonged to ''Elasmosaurus''. Additional parts of the same skeleton are housed at the Institute for Geology of the [[University of Hamburg]], as well as in private collections. Combined, the specimen consists of neck, back and tail vertebrae, [[phalanges]], a tooth, limb elements, 110 gastroliths, and unidentifiable fragments.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sachs | first1 = S. | last2 = Ladwig | first2 = J. | title = Reste eines Elasmosauriers aus der Oberkreide von Schleswig-Holstein in der Sammlung des Naturkunde-Museums Bielefeld | trans-title = Remains of an elasmosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Schleswig-Holstein in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Bielefeld | journal = Berichte des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Bielefeld und Umgegend | date = 2017 | volume = 55 | pages = 28–36 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320979464 | language = de }}</ref>
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