Cimoliasaurus was a plesiosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of New Jersey. It grew up to long and weighed up to . Etymology The name is derived from the Greek , meaning "white chalk", and , meaning "lizard", in reference to the fact that the deposits in which it was found bear a superficial resemblance to the chalk deposits of the Western Interior Seaway. Taxonomic history The name Cimoliasaurus magnus was coined by Joseph Leidy for ANSP 9235, one anterior and 12 posterior cervical vertebrae collected in Maastrichtian-aged greensand deposits in Burlington County, New Jersey. In his catalogue of plesiosaur and ichthyosaur specimens preserved in the NHM, the British zoologist Richard Lydekker referred several Jurassic and Cretaceous plesiosaur species to Cimoliasaurus, including the new species C. richardsoni (now considered a species of Cryptoclidus) and C. cantabrigiensis, as well as Colymbosaurus and a number of previously described species from the Cambridge Greensand and Chalk Group. Nowadays, Cimoliasaurus is now recognized as being a derived elasmosaurid, effectively making the family name Cimoliasauridae Delair, 1959 a junior synonym of Elasmosauridae. Misassigned nominal species Cimoliasaurus laramiensis Knight, 1900, now Tatenectes Cimoliasaurus richardsoni Lydekker, 1889, now Cryptoclidus richardsoni Cimoliasaurus valdensis Lydekker, 1889, now Hastanectes Cimoliasaurus teplicensis Fritsch, 1906 (nomen dubium) See also List of plesiosaur genera Timeline of plesiosaur research References External links https://web.archive.org/web/20080414142638/http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/220Lepidosauromorpha/220.820.html#Cimoliasaurus Late Cretaceous plesiosaurs of North America Elasmosaurids Fossil taxa described in 1851 Taxa named by Joseph Leidy Sauropterygian genera