biology

Stratesaurus

Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Stratesaurus is an extinct genus of small-bodied basal plesiosaur known from the Early Jurassic period (most likely earliest Hettangian stage) of the United Kingdom. It contains a single species, S. taylori.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Stratesaurus is an extinct genus of small-bodied basal plesiosaur known from the Early Jurassic period (most likely earliest Hettangian stage) of the United Kingdom. It contains a single species, S. taylori. It was a small plesiosaur, with a skull length of 18 cm (7.1 in) and a body length of 2 m (6.6 ft).

Discovery Stratesaurus is known from the holotype specimen OUMNH J.10337, a dorsoventrally crushed but nearly complete skull, and three-dimensionally preserved partial postcranial skeleton including anterior cervical and pectoral vertebrae, a partial hindlimb and ilium. The specimen was acquired by the OUMNH in 1874 from the collection of Thomas Hawkins. GSM 26035 was referred to S. taylori because it shares one autapomorphy and other characters with the holotype specimen. It consists of a skull and some anterior cervical vertebrae. AGT 11 was also referred to S. taylori. Although it does nor show the autapomorphies of S. taylori, it is indistinguishable from both OUMNH J.10337 and GSM 26035, and it is possible to distinguish it from similar taxa, like Avalonnectes. All specimens were collected at Street, of Somerset, from the Pre-Planorbis beds of the Blue Lias Formation of the Lower Lias Group. These beds likely occur below the first occurrence of the ammonite Psiloceras planorbis. Thus, they probably fall within the earliest Hettangian P. tilmanni Chronozone, which is about 199.6-198 million years old, immediately following the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary. Plesiosaurs fossils which were discovered at Street represent the earliest known occurrence of the Plesiosauria. Hence, Stratesaurus is one of the oldest plesiosaurs to date.

Description Stratesaurus is a small-bodied plesiosaur, with a skull length of 180 mm (7.1 in) in the holotype. Its snout is not constricted, and it has five of tooth sockets in its premaxilla and sixteen in the maxilla. In the front part of the neck, there are strongly developed backwards-pointing projections on the prezygapophyses, an autapomorphy (unique derived feature) of the genus. Also autapomorphic are the short lengths of the centra (vertebral bodies) in the shoulder region.

Phylogeny A phylogenetic analysis performed by Benson et al. (2012) found it to be the basalmost rhomaleosaurid. The cladogram below shows Stratesaurus phylogenetic position among other plesiosaurs following Benson et al. (2012).

Etymology Stratesaurus was first described and named by Roger B. J. Benson, Mark Evans and Patrick S. Druckenmiller in 2012 and the type species is Stratesaurus taylori. The generic name is derived from "Strate", the name for Street as it recorded in the Domesday Book and from Greek sauros, meaning "lizard". The specific name honors the paleontologist Michael A. Taylor, who performed acid preparation of the holotype.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stratesaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus

In research: Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus 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: Stratesaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Early Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe, Fossil taxa described in 2012, Prehistoric life of Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stratesaurus in simple terms?

Why does Stratesaurus 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 Stratesaurus?

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 Stratesaurus.