Category «Thalassophonea»

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 authors the following year (Cau and Fanti 2015).

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 and Art Gallery.

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.

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.