Predator X
*Special note, since this page was uploaded, Predator X has finally been granted a binomial name, and is today recognised as a species of Pliosaurus, P. funkei. For more complete and up to date information regarding this genus of pliosaur, it is recommended that you also look up the main Pliosaurus page here. On an additional note, although this page labels Predator X as a 15 meter pliosaur, new estimates for its size now range between 10 and 12.8 meters in length. Though now described as something else, this page remains online for archive purposes.
*Remember, the pliosaur formerly known as Predator X is no longer considered to have been 15 meters long. A more up to date size comparison for this animal appears on the main Pliosaurus page.
Name: Predator
X (This is not a binomal name for a genus, it is more a reference
name for an as yet undescribed marine reptile that is still under
study).
Phonetic: Pred-a-tor ecks.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria, Neoplesiosauria, Pliosauroidea -
Further than this remains uncertain at this time.
Species: Binomal name not currently granted.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Possibly as much as 15 meters long.
Known locations: Svalbard.
Time period: Tithonian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Single very fragmentary
individual composed of around twenty thousand pieces.
Predator
X is the informal name given to a marine reptile that is still
undergoing reconstruction and study. This marine reptile is
excitingly, possibly the largest pliosaur ever to live, but
frustratingly the most fragmented. With fossil remains of an
individual that is composed of roughly twenty thousand bone fragments,
the reconstruction of Predator X is akin to assembling a super
difficult three dimensional jigsaw without even the original image for
reference. As such palaeontologists have been painstakingly
reassembling this massive marine predator, doing everything that they
can to get it right.
From
the work done so far Predator X appears to have been an exceptionally
large pliosaur, a group of marine reptiles that were an evolutionary
offshoot from the long necked plesiosaurs that ended up being the apex
predators of the worlds’ oceans throughout the Jurassic and early
to mid-Cretaceous periods. Unlike their plesiosaur cousins however,
pliosaurs notably had shorter necks that supported much larger
skulls. Early indications of the total size of Predator X suggest
that it may have grown to around fifteen meters long, making it much
bigger that other well-known large pliosaurs such as Kronosaurus
and
Pliosaurus
and a lot bigger than Liopleurodon
which is often
incorrectly labelled as reaching twenty-five meters long when in fact
the largest known specimen is a little over six meters long. Predator
X may have also been a match for the later giant mosasaurs such as
Tylosaurus
and Mosasaurus
which lived later at the end of the
Cretaceous.
The
large size of Predator X meant that when fully grown it would have been
capable of taking down almost any other prey from marine reptiles like
plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and smaller pliosaurs to gigantic fish
similar to Leedsichthys.
The massive jaws would have had equally
powerful muscles that would have given Predator X one of the largest
bite forces of all the animals in the fossil record, although the
giant shark C.
megalodon may have been able to match Predator X,
with larger individuals actually exceeding it. Regardless of whether
Predator X had the highest bite force or not, its thirty centimetre
long teeth would still have been driven through the bodies of prey
animals with easily enough force to kill them.
Study
regarding the brain cavity of Predator X has revealed that its brain
was actually similar to the much smaller great white shark
(Carcharodon carcharias) in both size and type.
This is not to
imply that Predator X was stupid however as in order to be an effective
hunter it would just need the brain power to analyse its surroundings
and identify prey. Beyond this further development would be
unnecessary.
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