biology

Neosteneosaurus

Neosteneosaurus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Neosteneosaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Neosteneosaurus is a genus of machimosaurid, known from the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay of the UK, and Marnes de Dives, France. History The type species, N. edwardsi, was originally named as a species of Steneosaurus in 1868 as "Steneosaurus" edwardsi in 1868.

Key takeaways

Neosteneosaurus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neosteneosaurus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neosteneosaurus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Neosteneosaurus is a genus of machimosaurid, known from the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay of the UK, and Marnes de Dives, France.

History

The type species, N. edwardsi, was originally named as a species of Steneosaurus in 1868 as "Steneosaurus" edwardsi in 1868. The genus Steneosaurus was used as a longtime wastebasket taxon for various teleosauroid specimens and had more than a dozen species. The type species, Steneosaurus rostromajor is undiagnostic, making the genus and species dubious and invalid. Additionally, many species of so called "Steneosaurus" were found to be quite different and unrelated to one another, thus needing new generic names. In 2020, a study by Michela Johnson and colleagues in 2020 reclassified "Steneosaurus" edwardsi into the new genus Neosteneosaurus. The species "Steneosaurus" durobrivensis and "Steneosaurus" hulkei were also found to be junior synonyms of N. edwardsi.

Classification Neosteneosaurus is a member of the machimosaurid subfamily Machimosaurinae. It is closely related to other large-bodied members such as Lemmysuchus and Machimosaurus. The cladogram below is from an analysis by Johnson and colleagues in 2020.

Ecology In life, Neosteneosaurus was a large and robust predator of large-bodied marine prey. It had well suited for tackling large prey, with large teeth and some of the largest muscle attachment sites among machimosaurids. However, this animal was still not at the level of more derived and more durophagous machimosaurids such as Machimosaurus. Neosteneosaurus was part of a shift of machimosaurids adapting to larger prey, functioning as a generalist predator of large fish and marine reptiles. In 2015, it was estimated at more than 7 m (23 ft) in length. In 2016, this estimate was revised down to 6.6 m (22 ft), but even with such measurement, this animal remains to be the largest known Middle Jurassic crocodylomorph. This would make Neosteneosaurus amongst the top of the food chain in its ecosystem.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neosteneosaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neosteneosaurus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neosteneosaurus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neosteneosaurus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neosteneosaurus

In research: Neosteneosaurus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neosteneosaurus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neosteneosaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Callovian life, Fossil taxa described in 2020, Fossils of England, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neosteneosaurus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Neosteneosaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neosteneosaurus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neosteneosaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neosteneosaurus in simple terms?

Neosteneosaurus is a genus of machimosaurid, known from the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay of the UK, and Marnes de Dives, France. History The type species, N. edwardsi, was originally named as a species of Steneosaurus in 1868 as "Steneosaurus" edwardsi in 1868.

Why does Neosteneosaurus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neosteneosaurus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neosteneosaurus.