Pliosauridae

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Late Triassic - Late Cretaceous, {{fossil_range|228|89.3}}

| image2 = Attenborosaurus conybearei 2.JPG

| image2_caption = Cast of the primitive pliosaur Attenborosaurus conybeari (NHMUK R1339), Natural History Museum

| image = Liopleurodon ferox Tubingen 2.JPG

| image_caption = Liopleurodon ferox mounted skeleton, Museum of Paleontology, Tübingen

| taxon = Pliosauridae

| authority = Seeley, 1874

| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups

| subdivision = *{{extinct}}Anguanax

{{extinct}}Arminisaurus
{{extinct}}Attenborosaurus
{{extinct}}Hauffiosaurus
{{extinct}}Marmornectes
{{extinct}}Monquirasaurus
{{extinct}}Pachycostasaurus
{{extinct}}Rhaeticosaurus
{{extinct}}Thalassiodracon
{{extinct}}Thalassophonea
Benson & Druckenmiller, 2013
{{extinct}}Eardasaurus
{{extinct}}Gallardosaurus
{{extinct}}Ischyrodon
{{extinct}}Liopleurodon
{{extinct}}Megalneusaurus
{{extinct}}Simolestes
{{extinct}}Peloneustes
{{extinct}}Pliosaurus
{{extinct}}Brachaucheninae
Williston, 1925
{{extinct}}Acostasaurus
{{extinct}}Brachauchenius
{{extinct}}Kronosaurus
{{extinct}}Lorrainosaurus
{{extinct}}Luskhan
{{extinct}}Makhaira
{{extinct}}Megacephalosaurus
{{extinct}}Polyptychodon
{{extinct}}Sachicasaurus
{{extinct}}Stenorhynchosaurus

}}

Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Latest Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Rhaetian to Turonian stages). The family is more inclusive than the archetypal short-necked large headed species that are placed in the subclade Thalassophonea, with early, primitive forms resembling other plesiosaurs with long necks.

The largest thalassophonean pliosaurs reached {{Convert|10-11|m|ft}}, in length, with around a quarter of this length being the head. Thalassophonean pliosaurs represented the largest marine predators during their existence, spanning more than 80 million years.{{cite journal |author=N. G. Zverkov, E. M. Pervushov |year=2020 |title=A gigantic pliosaurid from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Volga Region, Russia |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=110 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104419}}

Pliosaurs went extinct during the early Late Cretaceous and were subsequently replaced by the mosasaurs.

Taxonomy

Pliosauridae was formally named by Harry G. Seeley in 1874.{{cite journal |last1=Ketchum |first1=H.F. |last2=Benson |first2=R.B.J. |year=2010 |title=Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses |journal=Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=361–392 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00107.x |pmid=20002391 |s2cid=12193439}}

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".{{cite journal |last1=Ketchum |first1=H.F. |last2=Benson |first2=R.B.J. |year=2010 |title=Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses |journal=Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=361–392 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00107.x |pmid=20002391 |s2cid=12193439}} The family Brachauchenidae has been proposed to include pliosauroids which have very short necks and may include Brachauchenius and Kronosaurus.{{cite web |title=Pliosauridae |url=http://www.plesiosauria.com/pliosauridae.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018140315/http://www.plesiosauria.com/pliosauridae.html |archive-date=2011-10-18 |access-date=2011-10-18 |website=The Plesiosaur Directory}} However, modern cladistic analyses found that this group is actually a subfamily of pliosaurids,{{cite journal |last=Gasparini |first=Zulma |year=2009 |title=A New Oxfordian Pliosaurid (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae) in the Caribbean Seaway |url=http://www.redciencia.cu/cdorigen/arca/paper/plio2009.pdf |journal=Palaeontology |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=661–669 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00871.x |s2cid=55353949 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716060129/http://www.redciencia.cu/cdorigen/arca/paper/plio2009.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-16 }} and possibly even the "crown group" of Pliosauridae.{{cite journal |last1=Ketchum |first1=H.F. |last2=Benson |first2=R.B.J. |year=2011 |title=The cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Peloneustes philarchus (Sauropterygia, Pliosauridae) from the Peterborough Member (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) of the UK |journal=Palaeontology |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=639–665 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01050.x |s2cid=85851352 }}

Within Pliosauridae, there is a more derived clade called Thalassophonea. 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".{{Cite journal | last1 = Benson | first1 = R. B. J. | last2 = Druckenmiller | first2 = P. S. | doi = 10.1111/brv.12038 | title = Faunal turnover of marine tetrapods during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition | journal = Biological Reviews | volume = 89 | pages = 1–23 | year = 2014 | issue = 1 | orig-year= first published online 2013 | pmid=23581455| s2cid = 19710180 }} It includes the short necked and large headed taxa that typify the family.{{cite journal |author=N. G. Zverkov, E. M. Pervushov |year=2020 |title=A gigantic pliosaurid from the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Volga Region, Russia |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=110 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104419}}{{cite journal|author1=Sachs, S.|author2=Madzia, D.|author3=Thuy, B.|author4=Kear, B.P.|date=October 16, 2023|title=The rise of macropredatory pliosaurids near the Early-Middle Jurassic transition|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=13|issue=17558|pages=1-16|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-43015-y|doi=10.1038/s41598-023-43015-y|doi-access=free|pmc=10579310}}