1.
plesiosaur
An extinct group of large, long-necked marine reptiles (order Plesiosauria) that lived from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, alongside the dinosaurs. Famous for their swan-like necks, paddle-shaped flippers, and small heads. The supposed Loch Ness Monster is most often imagined to be a surviving plesiosaur.
首長竜の化石が見つかった。
Plesiosaur fossils were discovered.
博物館で巨大な首長竜の骨格を見た。
I saw a huge plesiosaur skeleton at the museum.
首長竜は恐竜と同じ時代に生きていたが、恐竜ではない。
Plesiosaurs lived in the same era as the dinosaurs but are not themselves dinosaurs.
ネス湖の怪物は、今も生き残っている首長竜ではないかと想像されてきた。
The Loch Ness Monster has long been imagined as a plesiosaur that has somehow survived to the present.
Composed of 首 (neck), 長 (long), and 竜 (dragon; reptile, used in scientific names). Literally 'long-necked dragon,' the name is a transparent native-Japanese coinage for the reptile group, parallel to English 'plesiosaur.'
USAGE:
A paleontology and natural-history term encountered in museum displays, children's dinosaur books, science magazines, and discussions of cryptids. Often confused with dinosaurs (恐竜), but plesiosaurs are a separate group of marine reptiles. Famous Japanese examples include the Futabasaurus ({フタバスズキリュウ}) discovered in Fukushima in 1968, which became a cultural icon and the basis for the friendly plesiosaur in the Doraemon film 'Nobita's Dinosaur.'
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 首長竜の化石: plesiosaur fossil
- 首長竜の骨格: plesiosaur skeleton
- 首長竜類: plesiosaurs (as a group)
- 大型の首長竜: large plesiosaur
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 恐竜: dinosaur — a separate reptile group; plesiosaurs are NOT dinosaurs
- 翼竜: pterosaur — flying reptile of the same era, also not a dinosaur
- 魚竜: ichthyosaur — another extinct marine reptile, dolphin-shaped
- モササウルス: mosasaur — large predatory marine reptile, distinct from plesiosaurs