Jucha

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] (it may have been the oldest considering the Late Triassic Alexeyisaurus was not an elasmosaur).[2]

Jucha
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 130 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: †Sauropterygia
Order: †Plesiosauria
Family: †Elasmosauridae
Genus: †Jucha
Fischer et al., 2020
Species:
†J. squalea
Binomial name
†Jucha squalea
Fischer et al., 2020

Discovery and naming

The holotype, 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.[3] The holotype was preserved in a mineral crust composed of mainly pyrite, hence the epithet name squalea (the genus is named after Jucha, a girl in Turkic demonology who has snake skin and can turn into a dragon, having lived for a thousand years, and while caring for his hair, he can take off his head - this is how the lack of a skull in the holotype played a role in the etymology of the genus name).[3] The species Jucha squalea was described in 2020 by Fisher et al.[1]

The holotype consists of 17 cervical vertebrae, 9 dorsal vertebrae and one isolated neural spine, four caudal vertebrae and parts of the forelimbs and hindlimbs.[1]

Description

When fully grown, Jucha grew up to around 5 metres (16 ft) long.[3]

References
  1. 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. in press. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa103.
  2. A. G. Sennikov, M. S. Arkhangelsky (2010). "On a Typical Jurassic Sauropterygian from the Upper Triassic of Wilczek Land (Franz Josef Land, Arctic Russia)". Paleontological Journal. 44 (5): 567–572. doi:10.1134/S0031030110050126. S2CID 88505507.
  3. "New plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the Ulyanovsk Volga region [in Russian]". The Russian Academy of Sciences Geological Institute. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
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