Elasmosaur Remains from the Maastrichtian type area, and a Review of latest Cretaceous Elasmosaurs (Reptilia, Plesiosauroidea)

Isolated skeletal remains of elasmosaurid plesiosaurs are described from the upper Upper Maastrichtian of the type area of that stage and compared with material from the Maastrichtian of southern Belgium (Mons Basin) and Morocco. An overview of Maastrichtian elasmosaurids worldwide is presented. The rarity of elasmosaurids in the latest Cretaceous marginal seas of the type Maastrichtian as compared with their common occurrence in the oceanic waters near California and Morocco of that age may be related to food abundance in upwelling areas along the margins of continental plates.