Plesiopterys

Plesiopterys (“plesio” meaning “near,” and “pterys” meaning “wing” or “pterygoid bone”) is an extinct genus of plesiosaur originating from the Posidonienschiefer of Holzmaden, Germany, and lived during the Early Jurassic period. The type and only species is P. wildi, known from two immature specimens with the subadult measuring long. It possesses a unique combination of both primitive and derived characters, and is currently displayed at the State Museum of Natural History and the Hauff Museum, Germany.

==Discovery and naming== thumb|left|Skeleton of the referred subadult specimen (MH 7) In 2004, Frank Robin O'Keefe named the species Plesiopterys wildi. The generic name is a combination of Greek plesios, "near", and pterys, "wing", the latter also referring to the pterygoid bones (apart from the fins). The specific name honors the German paleontologist Rupert Wild for his contributions to the Mesozoic vertebrate paleobiology in Germany.