| Lindwurmia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life reconstruction | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Genus: | †Lindwurmia Vincent and Storrs, 2019 |
| Species: | †L. thiuda |
| Binomial name | |
| †Lindwurmia thiuda Vincent and Storrs, 2019 | |
Lindwurmia (named after theLindwurm) is arhomaleosauridplesiosaur from theEarly Jurassic ofGermany. It contains a single species,Lindwurmia thiuda. It was a small plesiosaur, measuring 2 to 3 m (6.6 to 9.8 ft) long.[1]
The holotype is an incomplete postcranium; the anterior section of the jaws, sixty-nine vertebrae, a partial pectoral girdle, pelvic girdles, and the right fore- and hindlimbs.[1] It was discovered in thePsiloceras johnstoniammonite subzone in the clay quarry of Thiemeke'shen Ziegelei inHalberstadt, Germany in 1899 by Johannes Maak, with thedragline excavator that hit upon the specimen partially destroying it in the process; Maak had the specimen restored by 1900 and it was subsequently sent to the Halberstadt City Museum.
The specimen was then described by Theodore Brandes, in 1912 and 1914. In 1912, he assigned the specimen toPlesiosaurus (Thaumatosaurus) aff. megacephalo,[2] and in 1914 Brandes re-assigned it to justThaumatosaurus aff. megacephalo.[3] At an unknown point in time and without any prior scientific research, the Halberstadt City Museum had the specimen labeled asEurycleidus arcuatus.[1]
In 2019, Peggy Vincent and Glenn William Storrs named and described the type speciesLindwurmia thiuda for the specimen. The specific name is the word Þiuda, "people", a word reconstructed by linguists from Gothic þiudisko, "of the people". This has been seen as the origin ofDeutsch, "German".[1]
Lindwurmia reached around 3 metres (9.8 ft) long when fully grown.
It has twenty-four cervical vertebrae and five pairs of premaxillary teeth.[1]
Two different datasets were used to classifyLindwurmia. Vincent & Storrs (2019) found it to be the sister taxon toAnningasaura withinRhomaleosauridae.[1]
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