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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 C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliosaurus
''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 pliosaurids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liopleurodon
''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 poss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peloneustes
''Peloneustes'' (meaning "mud swimmer") is a genus of pliosaurid plesiosaur from the Middle Jurassic of England. Its remains are known from the Peterborough Member of the Oxford Clay Formation, which is Callovian in age. It was originally described as a species of ''Plesiosaurus'' by palaeontologist Harry Govier Seeley in 1896, before being given its own genus by naturalist Richard Lydekker in 1889. While many species have been assigned to ''Peloneustes'', ''P. philarchus'' is currently the only one still considered valid, with the others moved to different genera, considered '' nomina dubia'', or synonymised with ''P. philarchus''. Some of the material formerly assigned to ''P. evansi'' have since been reassigned to ''"Pliosaurus" andrewsi''. ''Peloneustes'' is known from many specimens, including some very complete material. With a total length of , ''Peloneustes'' is not a large pliosaurid. It had a large, triangular skull, which occupied about a fifth of its body length. The ... [...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 poss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 cladisti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luskhan
''Luskhan'' (meaning "water spirit chief") is an extinct genus of brachauchenine pliosaur from the Cretaceous of Russia. The type and only species is ''Luskhan itilensis'', named by Valentin Fischer and colleagues in 2017 from a well-preserved and nearly complete skeleton. As an early-diverging brachauchenine, ''Luskhan'' consequently exhibits an intermediate combination of traits seen in more basal (less specialized) and more derived (more specialized) pliosaurs. However, ''Luskhan'' departs significantly from other pliosaurs in that it exhibits a lack of adaptations in its skull to feeding on large prey; its slender snout, small teeth, and short tooth rows instead indicate a skull adapted for feeding on small, soft prey. With these features, it is the pliosaur that approaches closest to the distantly-related piscivorous polycotylids, having convergently evolved these traits more than 10 million years apart. Discovery and naming A nearly complete fossil skeleton of a pliosau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acostasaurus
''Acostasaurus'' (meaning "Acosta's lizard") is an extinct genus of possibly Thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Barremian of the Paja Formation, Colombia. The type specimen, UNDG R-1000, is known from a near complete skull, and postcranial elements including a complete hindlimb and various vertebrae.Marcela Gómez Pérez; Leslie F. Noè (2017). "Cranial anatomy of a new pliosaurid ''Acostasaurus pavachoquensis'' from the Lower Cretaceous of Colombia, South America". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 310 (1–2): 5–42. . The specimen has an estimated size of over in length and in body mass. Description The type specimen is noted for possessing several features that pertain to a sub adult individual: for example, the sagittal crest is not fully ossified, as well as possessing undeveloped palatine wings. It is possible however that ''Acostasaurus'', like other plesiosaurs, was paedomorphic. From what is preserved, the orbits are large, rounded and deeply notched dorsally. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ischyrodon
''Ischyrodon'' is a dubious genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs and it is known from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of Wölflinswil, Switzerland. The type species is ''I. meriani'',von Meyer H. (1838). Mittheilungen, an Prof. Bronn gerichtet. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunde. ''Jahrgang'' 1838:413-41 and was previously listed as a synonym of ''Liopleurodon ferox''.Tarlo LB. (1960). A review of the Upper Jurassic pliosaurs. ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, London'' 4(5):145-189 ''Ischyrodon'' was named in 1838 and described in 1856 by Hermann von Meyer. Lambert Beverly Tarlo noted the possibility of it pertaining to ''Liopleurodon'' in 1960. A 2022 study by Daniel Madzia and colleagues noted that while the tooth likely came from ''Liopleurodon'' or something similar, there was too little information available to make a confident a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megacephalosaurus
''Megacephalosaurus'' (; "great-headed lizard") is an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaur that inhabited the Western Interior Seaway of North America about 94 to 93 million years ago during the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous, containing the single species ''M. eulerti''. It is named after its large head, which is the largest of any plesiosaur in the continent and measures up to in length. ''Megacephalosaurus'' was one of the largest marine reptiles of its time with an estimated length of . Its long snout and consistently sized teeth suggest that it preferred a diet on smaller-sized prey. Remains representing the pliosaur include two fossil skulls, three ribs, and a neural arch. The fossils have been found in deposits of the Carlile Shale and Greenhorn Limestone in Kansas and elsewhere in the midwestern United States. First discovered in 1950, they were originally thought to have been giant fossils of a closely related pliosaur known as '' Brachauchenius lucasi''. But b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stenorhynchosaurus
''Stenorhynchosaurus'' is an extinct genus of pliosaurid plesiosaurs which lived in the Early Cretaceous of South America. The type species and only known is ''Stenorhynchosaurus munozi''. It was a medium-sized pliosaur, reaching an adult body length of . Discovery and naming Fossils from the front of a snout of a plesiosaur were discovered in 2000 on the property of Jorge Muñoz, in Loma La Cabrera, near Villa de Leyva in Boyacá, Colombia, on grounds of marine origin dating from the Late Barremian epoch of the Cretaceous. Muñoz reported the find to the local authorities, who in turn gave notice to staff of the Museo Geológico José Royo y Gómez administered by the Servicio Geológico Colombiano in Bogotá. Then was made the excavation of the nearly complete skeleton between 2004 and 2005, in collaboration with the Fundación Colombiana de Geobiología ("Colombian Geobiology Foundation"), and the remains being then transferred to Bogotá, assigning the catalog number VL ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct animal species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Callovian
In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the Oxfordian. Stratigraphic definitions The Callovian Stage was first described by French palaeontologist Alcide d'Orbigny in 1852. Its name derives from the latinized name for Kellaways Bridge, a small hamlet 3 km north-east of Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The base of the Callovian is defined as the place in the stratigraphic column where the ammonite genus ''Kepplerites'' first appears, which is the base of the biozone of '' Macrocephalites herveyi''. A global reference profile (a GSSP) for the base had in 2009 not yet been assigned. The top of the Callovian (the base of the Oxfordian) is at the first appearance of ammonite species '' Brightia thuouxensis''. Subdivision The Callovian is often subdivided into three substages ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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