| Elasmosauridae Temporal range: Late Triassic – Late Cretaceous | |
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| Elasmosaurus platyurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| clade: | †Xenopsaria |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Elasmosauridae Cope, 1869 |
| Referred species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Elasmosauridae was a family of plesiosaurs, with notably long necks. They had the longest necks of all plesiosaurs and survived from the Early Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. Their diet consisted of fish and shelless cephalopods. They reached from three meters to fourteen meters in total body length. Their necks alone were usually a little over half the total body length of the animal.