Plesiosaur paedomorphism

What is it about?

The presence of juvenilized external morphological traits in Plesiosauria is now contrasted with histological analysis. Histology of the specimens analysed reveal a mature.

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Why is it important?

Plesiosaurs are known from many juvenile specimens, however many of these may simply be paedomorphic. Paedomorphism is the truncation of morphological development, thus resulting in the retention of juvenile characters. The contrast between the juvenile external morphology and mature long bone histology indicates that the described specimens are indeed paedomorphic.