The ''sauropod'' from the Albian of Mesnil-Saint-Père (Aube, France): a pliosaur, not a dinosaur

A vertebra from the Albian of Mesnil-Saint-Père (Aube, eastern Paris Basin), previously identified as the first caudal of a sauropod dinosaur, is shown to be a dorsal vertebra of a large pliosaur. The specimen resembles vertebrae from the Albian of England and eastern France that have been referred to the pliosaur Polyptychodon, a taxon in need of revision.