The holotype, eleven vertebrae, was discovered by Joseph Jones in
Alabama and
Mississippi, and was named and described as
Discosaurus vestutus by
Leidy (1851). Two more specimens from
New Jersey were described and were later re-classified as belonging to
Cimoliasaurus magnus by Leidy (1870b). Leidy (1870b) later argued that
Discosaurus was the same animal as
Elasmosaurus. ==See also==