Traskasaura sandrae, a 12-m-long elasmosaur (a type of plesiosaur) that lived in the Cretaceous seas, 85 million years ago, had a strange mix of primitive and derived traits unlike any other elasmosaur; its unique suite of adaptations enabled this marine reptile to hunt prey from above. Traskasaura sandrae. Image credit: O’Keefe et al., doi: 10.1080/14772019.2025.2489938. The first Traskasaura fossil was discovered in 1988 from Late Cretaceous rocks...
