pliosauroidea

Image:Liopleurodon ferox 2.jpg

Pliosauroidea was named by Welles in 1943. It is adapted from the name of the genus Pliosaurus, which is derived from the Greek {{lang|grc|πλειων}} ({{transl|grc|pleion}}), meaning "more/closely", and {{lang|grc|σαυρος}} ({{transl|grc|sauros}}) meaning "lizard"; it therefore means "more saurian". The name Pliosaurus was coined in 1841 by Richard Owen, who believed that it represented a link between plesiosauroids and crocodilians (considered a type of "saurian"), particularly due to their crocodile-like teeth.

Image:Macroplata BW.jpg]]

File:Pliosaurus restoration 2019.jpg]]

Image:Simolestes1DB.jpg]]

Image:Attenborosaurus BW.jpg]]

The taxonomy presented here is mainly based on the plesiosaur cladistic analysis proposed by Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson, 2011 unless otherwise noted.{{cite journal |year=2011 |title=A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early-Middle Jurassic pliosaurids |journal=Special Papers in Palaeontology |volume=86 |pages=109–129 |author=Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson }}

• Suborder Pliosauroidea
• Eurysaurus?
• Sinopliosaurus?
• Family Rhomaleosauridae
• Archaeonectrus
• Bishanopliosaurus?
• Borealonectes{{cite journal |last=Sato |first=Tamaki |author2=Xiao-Chun Wu |year=2008 |title=A new Jurassic pliosaur from Melville Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=303–320 |doi=10.1139/E08-003 |bibcode=2008CaJES..45..303S |hdl=2309/95302 |hdl-access=free }}
• Eurycleidus
• Macroplata
• Maresaurus
• Meyerasaurus
• Rhomaleosaurus
• Sthenarosaurus{{Cite journal |author=Adam S. Smith and Gareth J. Dyke |year=2008 |title=The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics |url=http://www.plesiosauria.com/pdf/smith&dyke_2008.pdf |journal=Naturwissenschaften |volume=95 |issue= 10|pages=975–980 |doi=10.1007/s00114-008-0402-z |pmid=18523747 |bibcode=2008NW.....95..975S |s2cid=12528732 }}
• Yuzhoupliosaurus?
• Family Pliosauridae
• Anguanax
• Attenborosaurus
• Eardasaurus
• Gallardosaurus{{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 |bibcode=2009Palgy..52..661G |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 }}
• Hauffiosaurus
• Liopleurodon
• Marmornectes
• Megalneusaurus
• Pachycostasaurus
• Peloneustes
• Pliosaurus
• Rhaeticosaurus
• Simolestes
• Thalassiodracon
• Subfamily Brachaucheninae
• Brachauchenius
• Kronosaurus
• Luskhan
• Makhaira
• Megacephalosaurus
• Monquirasaurus
• Polyptychodon
• Sachicasaurus
• Stenorhynchosaurus

Image:Macrocephalus.jpg, Paris]]

Pliosauroidea is a stem-based taxon that was defined by Welles as "all taxa more closely related to Pliosaurus brachydeirus than to Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus". Pliosauridae and Rhomaleosauridae are stem-based taxa too. Pliosauridae is defined as "all taxa more closely related to Pliosaurus brachydeirus than to Leptocleidus superstes, Polycotylus latipinnis or Meyerasaurus victor". Rhomaleosauridae is defined as "all taxa more closely related to Meyerasaurus victor than to Leptocleidus superstes, Pliosaurus brachydeirus or Polycotylus latipinnis".{{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 cladogram below follows a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson, and reduced to genera only.

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:85%

|label1=Pliosauroidea

|1={{clade

|label1=Rhomaleosauridae

|1={{clade

|1=Anningasaura

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1="Plesiosaurus" macrocephalus

|2={{clade

|1=Archaeonectrus

|2=Macroplata }} }}

|2={{clade

|1=Atychodracon

|2={{clade

|1=Eurycleidus

|2={{clade

|1=Rhomaleosaurus

|2={{clade

|1=Meyerasaurus

|2=Maresaurus }} }} }} }} }} }}

|label2=Pliosauridae

|2={{clade

|1=Thalassiodracon

|2={{clade

|1=Hauffiosaurus

|2={{clade

|1=Attenborosaurus

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=BMNH R2439

|2=Marmornectes }}

|2={{clade

|1="Pliosaurus" andrewsi

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=OUMNH J.02247

|2=Peloneustes }}

|2={{clade

|1=Simolestes

|2={{clade

|1=Liopleurodon

|2={{clade

|1=Pliosaurus

|2={{clade

|1=Megacephalosaurus{{Cite journal | last1 = Schumacher | first1 = B. A. | last2 = Carpenter | first2 = K. | last3 = Everhart | first3 = M. J. | doi = 10.1080/02724634.2013.722576 | title = A new Cretaceous Pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 33 | issue = 3 | pages = 613–628 | year = 2013 | bibcode = 2013JVPal..33..613S | s2cid = 130165209 }}

|2={{clade

|1=Brachauchenius

|2=Kronosaurus }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

In 2002, the discovery of a very large pliosauroid was announced in Mexico. This pliosauroid came to be known as the "Monster of Aramberri". Although widely reported as such, it does not belong to the genus Liopleurodon.{{cite web |url=http://www.plesiosaur.com/plesiosaurs/liopleurodon.php |title=The Plesiosaur Site - Liopleurodon |access-date=2017-09-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715093428/http://www.plesiosaur.com/plesiosaurs/liopleurodon.php |archive-date=2011-07-15 }} The remains of this animal, consisting of a partial vertebral column, were dated to the Kimmeridgian of the La Caja Formation.M.-C. Buchy, E. Frey, W. Stinnesbeck, J.-G. Lopez-Oliva (2003) "First occurrence of a gigantic pliosaurid plesiosaur in the late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Mexico", Bull. Soc. geol. Fr., 174(3), pp. 271-278 The fossils were found much earlier, in 1985, by a geology student and were at first erroneously attributed to a theropod dinosaur by Hahnel.Hahnel W. (1988) "Hallazgo de restos de dinosaurio en Aramberri, N.L.,

Mexico", Actas Fac. Cienc. Tierra UANL Linares, 3, 245-250. The remains originally contained part of a rostrum with teeth (now lost).

In August 2006, palaeontologists of the University of Oslo discovered the first remains of a pliosaur on Norwegian soil. The remains were described as "very well preserved, as well as being unique in their completeness". The large animal was determined to be a new species of Pliosaurus. In the summer of 2008, the fossil remains of the huge pliosaur were dug up from the permafrost on Svalbard, a Norwegian island close to the North Pole.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319022055/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509484,00.html?sPage=fnc/scitech/evolution Fox News: Predator X Was Most Fearsome Animal to Swim Oceans] The excavation of the find is documented in the 2009 History television special Predator X.

{{confusing|date=February 2017}}

On 26 October 2009, palaeontologists reported the discovery of potentially the largest pliosauroid yet found. Found in cliffs near Weymouth, Dorset, on Britain's Jurassic Coast, the fossil had a skull length of {{convert|6|ft|5|in|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}. Palaeontologist Richard Forrest told the BBC: "I had heard rumours that something big was turning up. But seeing this thing in the flesh, so to speak, is just jaw dropping. It is simply enormous."{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8322629.stm| work=BBC News | first=Rebecca | last=Morelle | author-link=Rebecca Morelle | title=Colossal 'sea monster' unearthed | date=27 October 2009}} It was determined that the specimen belonged to a new species that scientists named Pliosaurus kevani.{{cite journal |title=A Giant Pliosaurid Skull from the Late Jurassic of England|date = 2013-05-13|author=Benson, Roger J. B.|author2=Evans, Mark|author3=Smith, Adam S.|author4=Sassoon, Judyth|author5=Moore-Faye, Scott|author6=Ketchum, Hilary F.|author7=Forrest, Richard|journal=PLOS ONE|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0065989 |pmc=3669260|pmid=23741520|volume=8|issue=5|page=e65989|bibcode = 2013PLoSO...865989B|doi-access = free}}

In December 2023, the recent discovery of a pliosaur skull on the Dorset coast was described as "one of the most complete specimens of its type ever discovered".{{Cite news |date=2023-12-10 |title=Pliosaur discovery: Huge sea monster emerges from Dorset cliffs |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67650247 |access-date=2023-12-10}} The discovery and research of the skull was covered in the PBS documentary Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster hosted by David Attenborough.{{cite web|url= https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/about-attenborough-and-the-jurassic-sea-monster/29745/|title=Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster|date=24 January 2024 |publisher=PBS|accessdate=24 February 2024}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikispecies}}

• [http://plesiosauria.com/pliosauridae The Plesiosaur Directory - pliosaur page]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8322000/8322629.stm Large pliosaur from the Jurassic Coast, Dorset - BBC News]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14061347 Dorset pliosaur skull after conservation - video. BBC July 2011]
• [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170525125617.htm Fossils News - ScienceDaily: Luskhan Itilensis 2017]

{{Plesiosauria|Pliosauroidea}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q843192}}

Category:Plesiosaurs

Category:Hettangian first appearances

Category:Cenomanian extinctions