In Depth Maresaurus is one of the rhomaleosaurid pliosaurs, a group that seem to be between the long necked plesiosaurs and short necked pliosaurs in form. Additionally the fact that Maresaurus comes from South America combined with the presence of Yuzhoupliosaurus in China, produces a picture of the rhomaleosaurid pliosaurs having a global distribution. Other … Read more
In Depth Mauriciosaurus is a genus of polycotylid plesiosaur known to have lived in waters of what would have been the southern portion of the Western Interior Seaway, the shallow sea that once submerged the middle portion of North America. The holotype specimen of Mauriciosaurus was found in Mexico, and has proven to be a … Read more
In Depth Wangosaurus is a genus of pistosaurs that lived in the waters around what is now China during the Triassic. Pistosaurs like Wangosaurus were the precursors to the plesiosaurs that would rise to prominence by the end of the Triassic, and go on to live in the worlds ‘oceans throughout the Mesozoic. Further Reading … Read more
In Depth Initially described as a species of Plesiosaurus back in 1910, Meyerasaurus has spent a lot of time being shunted around from one genus to another before it was given its own place. First the remains were moved from Plesiosaurus to Thaumatosaurus. Then a long necked pliosaur called Rhomaleosaurus was suggested to be a … Read more
Tricleidus: Research Database Plesiosauria (Sauropterygia) · Late Jurassic (~160 MYA) · Europe — England (Oxford Clay) Research Note: Tricleidus was a plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic of England — an early cryptoclidid and an important taxon for understanding plesiosaur evolution in the Jurassic of Europe. Research Finding Status Grade Year Method Citation Impact … Read more
Deinosuchus: Research Database Alligatoridae · Late Cretaceous (~82-73 MYA) · Western North America Research Note: Deinosuchus is the largest known crocodyliform, a giant alligator relative from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Known from fragments, it was enormous — comparable to the largest crocodylians that ever lived. Research Finding Status Grade Year Method Citation Impact … Read more
In Depth Formally named in 2017, Thaumatodracon was a medium sized rhomaleosaurid pliosaur. For those unfamiliar with the term, rhomaleosaurids were very similar to the long necked plesiosaurs, but with significantly larger skulls than other pliosaurs. As such, and like other rhomaleosaurids, Thaumatodracon would have been a predator of medium to large sized fish, hunting … Read more
In Depth Usually seen as a nothosaur, Simosaurus was a marine reptile that lived in European waters during the Triassic. The teeth of Simosaurus are quite blunt and while the jaws of Simosaurus are quite gracile, the way the muscles attached show that they could be closed very quickly. It is possible that Simosaurus used … Read more
In Depth The first specimen of Styxosaurus was of a skull and twenty cervical (neck) vertebrae, but was initially described as a species of Cimoliasaurus (C. snowii) by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1890. Williston then shifted it over as a species of Elasmosaurus in 1906 as E. snowii. Later study by Samuel Paul Welles led … Read more
Liopleurodon: Research Database Pliosauridae (Sauropterygia) · Mid-Late Jurassic (~165-155 MYA) · Europe — England, France Research Note: Liopleurodon was a genus of giant pliosaur marine reptiles that dominated Jurassic seas. Famous from Walking with Dinosaurs, it was one of the largest marine predators ever — with some estimates suggesting lengths of 6-7 meters based on … Read more