Monquirasaurus
Monquirasaurus is a giant pliosaurid from Colombia, South America. Originally named by Hampe (1992) as a species of Kronosaurus (K. boyacensis), the skeleton was later allocated to the new genus Monquirasaurus by Noè and Gómez-Pérez (2021). The genus name derives from 'Monquira', the administrative division in which the holotype was discovered. Monquirasaurus skeleton. From Hampe…
The Stewartby Pliosaur and the 1967 Liopleurodon reconstruction
Newman and Tarlo (1967) In 1967, Barney Newman and Lambert Beverley Tarlo authored a three-page short article in the popular magazine 'Animals', a short-lived periodical published weekly by Purnell from 1963 to, at least, 1967... I'm not sure when it eventually fizzled out. Their article entitled "A Giant Marine Reptile From Bedfordshire" provides an…
Anguanax
Anguanax is the first articulated plesiosaur ever found in Italy. It is a basal thalassophonean pliosaur from the Late Jurassic (middle Oxfordian). The type and only known specimen (MPPL 18797) of Anguanax was originally described as an indeterminate pliosaurid (Cau and Fanti 2014), but was subsequently named after reanalysis by the same…
Pliosaurus
Under construction Skull of Pliosaurus kevani in right lateral view. From Benson et al. (2013). The 'Westbury Pliosaur 1' specimen of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus, skull on display in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Photo by Chris Crump. The 'Westbury Pliosaur 1' specimen of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus, skull on display in the Bristol Museum…
Marmornectes
Marmornectes is a pliosaur with a long and narrow snout from the Oxford Clay. It was described and named by Ketchum and Benson (2011a). The type and only specimen (BEDFM 1999.201) comprises a substantially complete skeleton including a partial skull. Marmornectes is similar to Peloneustes but possesses some basal characters that were…
Hauffiosaurus
Hauffiosaurus is a basal pliosaurid known from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) of the UK and Germany. Hauffiosaurus is a medium to large sized plesiosaur (H. zanoni = 3.4 m, H. tomistomimus, 4.23 m, H. longirostris = 4.83 m) (Smith and Lomax 2019), with a relatively long neck for a pliosaur, and an…
Pliosauridae
Pliosaurids are a large family of short-necked plesiosaurs within the superfamily Pliosauroidea. They have a reduced number of neck vertebrae and are often large skulls. In some genera the skull may reach up to 3 meters in length and make up about a quarter of the total length of the animal. The…
Simolestes
Simolestes has variously been allied with the Pliosauridae and the Rhomaleosauridae. The most noticeable difference between Simolestes and the other pliosaur taxa from the Oxford Clay (Liopleurodon, Peloneustes, Pachycostasaurus), is its much shorter snout and mandibular symphysis, a character is shares with the Rhomaleosauridae. However, this is probably a convergent character. Older…
Peloneustes
Peloneustes is one of several pliosaur genera from the Oxford Clay Formation in the UK. It is one of the better known pliosaurs from this horizon, represented by 12 nearly complete skulls and several skeletons. It is also the most abundant pliosaur from the Peterborough Member of the Oxford Clay Formation (Ketchum…
Pachycostasaurus
Pachycostasaurus is approximately 3.1 meters long. Its rib cage and vertebrae exhibit thickened bone (Cruickshank et al. 1996) a condition termed pachyostosis. This heavy ossification is unusual in plesiosaurs (another exception may include Kronosaurus), although it is common in basal sauropterygians, especially pachypleurosaurs. Pachycostasaurus probably used the extra ballast provided by its…