Pliosaurus

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Pliosaurus
Fossil range: Middle - Late Jurassic

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Sauropterygia
Order:	Plesiosauria
Suborder:	Pliosauroidea
Family:	Pliosauridae
Genus:	Pliosaurus

Species

P. brachyspondylus (type) (Owen, 1840)
P. macromerus (Philips, 1871)
P. portentificus (Noè et al., 2004)

Pliosaurus is a genus of extinct marine reptiles, from the Mesozoic era. It is included in the family Pliosauridae. It was a large predatory reptile and its diet would have included fishes, squids and other marine reptiles. This genus has contained several species in the past but it currently consists of the type species P. brachyspondylus, P. macromerus and P. portentificus.^[1]

[edit] Discoveries

In August 2006, paleontologists 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 completenes" and are the first complete skeleton of a pliosaur ever discovered. Whether it belongs to the genus Pliosaurus or Liopleurodon awaits publication of the fossil description.

[edit] References

^ Noè, L. F., Smith, D. T. J. & Walton, D. I. (2004). "A new species of Kimmeridgian pliosaur (Reptilia; Sauropterygia) and its bearing on the nomenclature of Liopleurodon macromerus". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 115, 13-24.