Vegasaurus

Vegasaurus is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (early Maastrichtian stage) Snow Hill Island Formation of Vega Island, Antarctic Peninsula. It contains a single species, Vegasaurus molyi.

==Discovery and naming== Vegasaurus is known solely from the holotype MLP 93-I-5-1, a nearly complete well preserved postcranial skeleton (lacking the tip of the tail) housed at the La Plata Museum in La Plata, Argentina. Elements include the whole neck with 54 complete cervical vertebrae, three pectoral vertebrae, 17 back vertebrae, three sacral vertebrae, the front and middle tail vertebrae, pectoral and pelvic girdles, forelimbs and hindlimbs, ribs, and 45 gastroliths associated with the dorsal region. MLP 93-I-5-1 was discovered in 1989, by Eduardo Olivero, Daniel Martinioni, Francisco Mussel and Jorge Lusky, at Cape Lamb of Vega Island at the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula of James Ross Archipelago (northernmost part of Antarctica). Excavations took places during three Antarctic summer expeditions in 1993, 1999 and 2005. MLP 93-I-5-1 was collected from an area of 3 square meters in a semi-articulated state, at locality "Assemblage 10", which belongs to the middle section of Cape Lamb Member of the Snow Hill Island Formation, dating to the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 72 million years ago.