Reevaluation of the holotype of Plesiosaurus (Polyptychodon) mexicanus Wieland, 1910 from the ?Upper Jurassic of Mexico: a thalattosuchian, not a sauropterygian

Abstract

The holotype of the first sauropterygian described from Mexico, Plesiosaurus mexicanus Wieland, 1910, was recently rediscovered and is here described and discussed for the first time in almost a century. The holotype specimen belongs to an indeterminate metriorhynchine crocodyliform. Doubts remain as to the stratigraphic origin of the specimen, whether Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous. It adds a specimen to the recently recognised wealth of the Mexican Gulf in thalattosuchians.