Dolichorhynchops

Dolichorhynchops is an extinct genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America, containing the species D. osborni and D. herschelensis, with two previous species having been assigned to new genera. Definitive specimens of D. osborni have been found in the late Coniacian to early Campanian rocks, while those of D. herschelensis have been found in the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian rocks. Dolichorhynchops was a relatively small plesiosaur, measuring around long. Its Greek generic name means "long-nosed face".

==Discovery and species== thumb|left|Mounted skeleton of the holotype of D. osborni (from Williston, 1903), in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History The holotype specimen of Dolichorhynchops osborni, KUVP 1300, was discovered in the upper Smoky Hill Chalk Logan County, Kansas, by George Fryer Sternberg, as a teenager, in around 1900. The remains were collected by him and his father, Charles Hazelius Sternberg, and then sold to the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas). KUVP 1300 was prepared and mounted by H.T. Martin under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Wendell Williston, who described and named it in 1902. A more detailed description and photographs were provided by ). The specimen has been on display in the KU Museum of Natural History since that time. estimated that the holotype had a skull measuring long.