Late Jurassic teeth of plesiosauroid origin from the Owadów-Brzezinki Lägerstatte, Central Poland.

Abstract

Owadów-Brzezinki is currently one of the most promising Upper Jurassic sites in Central Poland, with a wide array of both vertebrate and invertebrate fossil fauna present. The discoveries of large-bodied marine reptiles fossils such as ichthyosaurs, turtles, and marine crocodylomorphs attracted attention to the location. A particular Mesozoic marine group, plesiosaurs, remained to be found, and in this report, we note four isolated teeth with distinguishing apicobasal ridging pattern and elongated, conical shape characteristic for plesiosaurians. The outcomes of the Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) of the largest and most complete tooth specimen ZPAL R.11/OB/T4 enabled us to confirm its classification as Plesiosauroidea. This discovery affirms the importance of the site as the area of mixing between Boreal and Tethyan faunas, expanding the broad spectrum of fossil taxa found in this location. Together with previous findings of plesiosaur material in a nearby region, it provides the evidence for the presence of Plesiosauroidea in Owadów-Brzezinki Lägerstatte.