"With the evidence of Peloneustes before us we now have an almost continuous chain connecting the genus Plesiosaurus with Pliosaurus, the course of evolution being directed towards a gradual increase in the size of the head, in the length of the mandibular symphysis, and the size and specialization of the teeth, accompanied by a shortening of the neck, which is accomplished by a reduction both in the number and length of the component vertebræ, and also by a tendency to a loose attachment between the centra, arches, and cervical ribs of the vertebræ, and a reduction in the relative length of the epipodial bones of the limbs. That Peloneustes philarchus is the direct ancestor of Pliosaurus is, however, improbable, seeing that the latter genus is already represented in the Oxford Clay. Finally, while Pliosaurus forms the culmination of the series just indicated, the genus Polyptychodon appears to have been the latest development of the series of which the middle term is represented by Cimoliosaurus."
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Richard Lydekker, "On the remains and affinities of five genera of Mesozoic reptiles". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 45 (1889), p. 56
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Plesiosauria
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Plesiosauria
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