Jucha
| Jucha Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
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| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae |
| Genus: | †Jucha Fischer et al., 2020 |
| Species: | †J. squalea
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| Binomial name | |
| †Jucha squalea Fischer et al., 2020
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Jucha is an extinct genus of plesiosaur found in the Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous) Klimovka Formation of Russia. The type species, J. squalea, was one of the basalmost and oldest definitive elasmosaurs known to date.[1]
Discovery and naming
[edit]The holotype specimen, UPM 2756/1-53, housed on display at the Undorov Pleontological Museum, was discovered in 2007 in a layer of the Klimovka Formation in the vicinity of the Slantsevy Rudnik village near Ulyanovsk, European Russia.[2] It consists of 17 cervical vertebrae, nine dorsal vertebrae and one isolated neural spine, four caudal vertebrae, and parts of the forelimbs and hindlimbs.[1]
The new genus and species Jucha squalea was described in 2020 by Fisher et al. The genus is named after Jucha, a girl in Turkic demonology who has snake skin, can turn into a dragon, has lived for a thousand years, and can take off her head. This refers to the lack of a skull in the holotype.[2] The holotype was preserved in a mineral crust composed of mainly pyrite, hence the specific epithet squalea, a Latin word meaning "coated" or "rugose".[1]
Description
[edit]When fully grown, Jucha grew up to around 5 metres (16 ft) long.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Valentin Fischer; Nikolay G. Zverkov; Maxim S. Arkhangelsky; Ilya M. Stenshin; Ivan V. Blagovetshensky; Gleb N. Uspensky (2020). "A new elasmosaurid plesiosaurian from the Early Cretaceous of Russia marks an early attempt at neck elongation". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (4): 1167–1194. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa103. hdl:2268/251614.
- ^ a b c "Новый плезиозавр из нижнего мела Ульяновского Поволжья" [New plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the Ulyanovsk Volga region] (in Russian). The Russian Academy of Sciences Geological Institute. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
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