The first plesiosaurian (Sauropterygia, pliosauridae) remains described from the Jurassic of Poland

Abstract

Plesiosaur remains are rare in Poland. The first confidently documented occurrence of the group from the Jurassic of Poland is reported. The specimens comprise three isolated teeth of a pliosaurid (Pliosauridae, Thalassophonea). These were found in Upper Jurassic (lower Oxfordian) sediments and were collected from Zalas Quarry, near Kraków, in southern Poland. Fossils from the vicinity of the Zalas area have been collected since the 1800s, yet no report of vertebrate remains has previously been described.