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Pliosaurid
Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Latest Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Rhaetian to Turonian stages) of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. The family is more inclusive than the archetypal short-necked large headed species that are placed in the subclade Thalassophonea, with basal forms resembling other plesiosaurs with long necks. They became extinct during the early Late Cretaceous and were subsequently replaced by the mosasaurs. It was formally named by Harry G. Seeley in 1874. Relationships Pliosauridae is a stem-based taxon defined in 2010 (and in earlier studies in a similar manner) as "all taxa more closely related to ''Pliosaurus brachydeirus'' than to ''Leptocleidus superstes'', ''Polycotylus latipinnis'' or '' Meyerasaurus victor''". The family Brachauchenidae has been proposed to include pliosauroids which have very short necks and may include '' Brachauchenius'' and '' Kronosaurus''. However, modern cladist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anguanax
''Anguanax'' is an extinct genus of basal pliosaurid known from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian stage) Rosso Ammonitico Veronese Formation of northern Italy. It contains a single species, ''Anguanax zignoi'', known from a partially complete individual, representing the first articulated skeleton of an Italian plesiosaurian. Discovery and naming ''Anguanax'' is known solely from the holotype MPPL 18797, currently housed at the Museo Paleontologico e della Preistoria ‘P. Leonardi’ in Ferrara. The skeleton, still articulated in several blocks of limestone, consists of a partial skull including the lower jaw, 32 isolated teeth, neck, back and tail vertebrae, a right pectoral girdle, a partial left humerus, a left radius, a left ulna, three left carpals, a partial pelvis, a femur, two epipodials, isolated metapodials and phalanges. It was collected during the 1980s from a nodular and cherty limestone interval at the Kaberlaba quarry in the Asiago Municipality of the Vicenza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liopleurodon Ferox
''Liopleurodon'' (; meaning 'smooth-sided teeth') is an extinct genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Thalassophonea, a clade of short-necked pliosaurid plesiosaurs. ''Liopleurodon'' lived from the Callovian Stage of the Middle Jurassic to the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic Period (c. 166 to 155 mya). It was the apex predator of the Middle to Late Jurassic seas that covered Europe. The largest species, ''L. ferox'', is estimated to have grown up to in length, but could have been larger. The name "Liopleurodon" (meaning "smooth-sided tooth") derives from Ancient Greek words: ', "smooth"; ', "side" or "rib"; and ', "tooth". Discovery and species Even before ''Liopleurodon'' was named, material likely belonging to it was described. In 1841, Hermann von Meyer named the species '' Thaumatosaurus oolithicus'' based on a fragmentary specimen consisting of partial teeth, skull elements, vertebrae, and ribs from deposits in Württemberg, Germany ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliosaurus Brachydeirus
''Pliosaurus'' (meaning 'more lizard') is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages (Late Jurassic) of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles. This genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only six (''P. brachydeirus'', ''P. carpenteri'', ''P. funkei'', ''P. kevani'', ''P. rossicus'' and ''P. westburyensis'') to be valid, while the validity of two additional species awaits a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Currently, ''P. brachyspondylus'' and ''P. macromerus'' are considered dubious, while ''P. portentificus'' is considered undiagnostic. Most species of ''Pliosaurus'' reached in length and in body mass, while ''P. rossicus'' and ''P. funkei'' may have reached or even exceeded in length and in body mass, being the largest plesiosaurs of all time. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marmornectes
''Marmornectes'' is a genus of pliosaurid known from the Middle Jurassic of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom. Description ''Marmornectes'' is known from the holotype BEDFM 1999.201, an articulated partial skeleton which includes the skull. It was collected in 1999 from the ''Sigaloceras enodatum'' ammonoid subzone of the Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation, which dates to the early Callovian stage of the late Middle Jurassic, about 164.7-163.5 million years ago. It was found in the monotypic locality of Quest Pit, east of Stewartby. It was a longirostrine pliosaurid with seven autapomorphies, and is most similar to '' Peloneustes philarchus''. Nevertheless, a cladistic analysis found it to be basal to ''Peloneustes'' and other pliosaurids. An undescribed pliosaurid, NHMUK R2439, was found to be the sister taxon of this genus. Etymology ''Marmornectes'' was first named by Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson in 2011 and the type species is ''Marmornectes ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiosauria
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period, possibly in the Rhaetian stage, about 203 million years ago. They became especially common during the Jurassic Period, thriving until their disappearance due to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago. They had a worldwide oceanic distribution, and some species at least partly inhabited freshwater environments. Plesiosaurs were among the first fossil reptiles discovered. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists realised how distinctive their build was and they were named as a separate order in 1835. The first plesiosaurian genus, the eponymous '' Plesiosaurus'', was named in 1821. Since then, more than a hundred valid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monquirasaurus
''Monquirasaurus'' is a monotypic genus of giant pliosaurid from the Cretaceous Paja Formation in Colombia. It contains a single species, ''M. boyacensis'', previously known as ''Kronosaurus boyacensis''. History and naming The holotype and only known specimen of ''Monquirasaurus'' is a long (as preserved), substantially complete and articuled skeleton of a young adult animal discovered in 1977 by Samuel Vargas, Enrique Zubieta and German Zubieta on the lands of Tito Hurtado. Excavations were conducted by geologists, archaeologists and palaeontologists from the Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (now Colombian Geological Survey, Servicio Geológico Colombiano), the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia and the National University of Colombia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Locally the specimen soon became known as "El Fósil", before being formally described as ''Kronosaurus boyacensis'' by Hampe in 1992 after being informally attributed to ''Kronosaurus' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hauffiosaurus
''Hauffiosaurus'' is an extinct genus of Early Jurassic (early Toarcian stage) pliosaurid plesiosaur known from Holzmaden of Germany and from Yorkshire of the United Kingdom. It was first named by Frank Robin O’Keefe in 2001 and the type species is ''Hauffiosaurus zanoni''. In 2011, two additional species were assigned to this genus: ''H. longirostris'' and ''H. tomistomimus''. Description The holotype specimen of ''Hauffiosaurus'', housed in the Hauff Museum, is an almost complete and articulated skeleton, found from the Posidonien-Schiefer, dating to early Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic. The holotype specimen preserved in a single block of the original matrix, exposed in ventral view. The body outline visible around the specimen is an artifact of preparation, not preservation; no remains of soft tissue were preserved. The skeleton was discovered during the early 19th Century, in beds of the famous Posidonien-Schiefer lagerstätte at Holzmaden, Baden-Württemberg, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptocleidus Superstes
''Leptocleidus'' is an extinct genus of plesiosaur, belonging to the family Leptocleididae.Smith AS, Dyke GJ. 2008. The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur ''Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni'': implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics. ''Naturwissenschaften'' e-published 2008. It was a small plesiosaur, measuring only up to . Discovery In short, the term ''Leptocleidus'' means "slender clavicle". It comes from a merge of the Greek words ''λεπτοσ'', meaning "slender" and ''κλειδ'' (also spelled ''κλεισ'') meaning clavicle. ''Leptocleidus'' is known from the following sediments: *''L. capensis'' is known from the Sundays River Formation (Valanginian age), Cape Province, South Africa. *''L. clemai'' found near Kalbarri in the Carnarvon Basin (Hauterivian-Barremian age) Western Australia. *''L. superstes'' is known from the Upper Weald Clay (Barremian age), Sussex, England. A specimen from the Vectis Formation (lower Aptian age), Isle of Wight, found in 1995 and see ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassiodracon
''Thalassiodracon'' (tha-LAS-ee-o-DRAY-kon) is an extinct genus of plesiosauroid from the Pliosauridae that was alive during the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic (Rhaetian-Hettangian) and is known exclusively from the Lower Lias of England. The type and only species, is ''Thalassiodracon'' (''Plesiosaurus'') ''hawkinsi'' ( Owen, 1838). Owen, R. (1838). A description of Viscount Cole's specimen of '' Plesiosaurus macrocephalus'' ( Conybeare). ''Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2'', 663-666. Discovery and naming ''Thalassiodracon hawkinsi'' is known from a number of complete skeletons (lectotype: BMNH 2018) acquired by the fossil collector Thomas Hawkins in Somerset, England during the early 1830s, before 1834. Hawkins, an eccentric Pre-Adamite who had his fossils heavily restaured and illustrated by distinguished artists in expensive editions to propagate his ideas, named these ''Plesiosaurus triotarsostinus'' in 1834 and ''Hezatarostinus'' in 1840 but these names are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pachycostasaurus
''Pachycostasaurus'' (meaning 'thick-ribbed lizard') is an extinct Pliosauroid from the Oxford Clay formation of Peterborough, England. History and naming The holotype fossil of Pachycostasaurus was discovered by Alan Dawn, an amateur geologist and museum volunteer, in what is now a quarry in Peterborough. The fossil was described in 1997 by Palaeontologists Arthur Cruickshank, David Martill and Leslie Noè, due to its distinct set of features not present in contemporary pliosaurids ''Liopleurodon'' and '' Simolestes.'' Description The type species, ''P. dawni'', is represented by a single near complete specimen (PETMG R338) which was approximately long and weighed . Perhaps the most defining feature of this genus is the large, pachyostic ribs and gastralia described as ‘sausage-like’ in profile. Pachyostosis is known from a number of Pliosaurid genera (for example '' Monquirasaurus''), and is present in modern animals such as Sirenians (Dugong and Manatees). This robust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arminisaurus
''Arminisaurus'' (meaning "lizard of Arminius") is a genus of pliosaurid plesiosaur that lived during the Lower Jurassic in present-day Germany. With '' Westphaliasaurus'' and '' Cryonectes'', ''Arminisaurus'' is only the third plesiosaurian taxon that was described from the Pliensbachian stage. The holotype and only known specimen is a fragmentary skeleton (about 40 percent complete), comprising an incomplete lower jaw, teeth, vertebrae and elements from the pectoral girdle and the paddles. The animal had an estimated body length of . Discovery and naming The holotype was discovered in the early 1980s by the Hannover-based fossil collector Lothar Schulz in the now abandoned clay pit Beukenhorst II, located in the Bielefeld district of Jöllenbeck. The specimen was later given to amateur palaeontologist Siegfried Schubert who transferred it to the Naturkunde-Museum Bielefeld in 2015 ( accession number: NAMU ES/jl 36052). ''Arminisaurus schuberti'' was described in 2018 by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassophonea
Thalassophonea is an extinct clade of pliosaurids from the Middle Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Callovian to Turonian) of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. ''Thalassophonea'' was erected by Roger Benson and Patrick Druckenmiller in 2013. The name is derived from Greek ''thalassa'' (θάλασσα), "sea", and ''phoneus'' (φονεύς), "murderer". It is a stem-based taxon defined as "all taxa more closely related to ''Pliosaurus brachydeirus'' than to '' Marmornectes candrewi''". It includes the short necked and large headed taxa that typify the family. Classification The following cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ... follows an analysis by Benson & Druckenmiller (2014). References Middle Jurassic first appearances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
