In Depth Because the skull of Westphaliasaurus is so far unknown it is impossible to say for certain what the diet of Westphaliasaurus was. However most of the early Jurassic plesiosaurs were dedicated hunters of fish and possibly also squid, prey animals that would become a staple part of the diets of plesiosaurs throughout the … Read more
In Depth Hydrotherosaurus is comfortably placed within the Elasmosauridae, a group of plesiosaurs noted for having proportionately long necks. Also like these other genera, Hydrotherosaurus had long pointed teeth, but these seem to have projected more to the sides rather than just up and down. This however is quite a common feature seen in piscivorous … Read more
In Depth Originally described as a species of Kronosaurus, K. boyacensis, was re-described as a distinct genus Monquirasaurus, in 2021. Monquirasaurus was a large pliosaur that swam around in the waters around Central America during the early Cretaceous. Monquirasaurus would have easily been among the larger oceanic predators of this time and easily capable of … Read more
In Depth Pantosaurus was originally described as Parasaurus, however this name had already been used to name a genus of Pareiasaur. Pantosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur that lived in North America during the late Jurassic. Pantosaurus has been noted as having a strong similarity to Muraenosaurus which is known from England and France, though … Read more
In Depth A relatively small and unassuming pliosaur, Peloneustes shows a dental specialisation where the teeth were not as sharp as other presumably piscivorous (fish eating) marine reptiles. The blunter teeth would have instead been better suited for cracking the shells of cephalopods like belemnites and ammonites so that Peloneustes could easily eat the soft … Read more
In Depth The genus name of Gallardosaurus is in honour of Juan Gallardo, the farmer who first discovered the remains in 1946. Despite the remains being discovered at this time, they were left unprepared for proper study, even in 1996 when Gallardosaurus was thought to possibly represent another specimen of Pliosaurus. When the remains were … Read more
In Depth Polyptychodon has been considered to be a dubious genus of pliosaur by some considering that it is based upon only teeth and vertebrae. Despite this two species are recognised, The first and type species, being named in 1841 and based upon teeth and vertebrae from England and France that are Aptian in Age. … Read more
In Depth Stratesaurus represents a genus of rhomaleosaurid plesiosaur, a type of plesiosaur noted for having a shorter neck and proportionately larger head than other plesiosaurs, though not to the extent of pliosaurs. The discovery of Stratesaurus in Hettangian aged rocks means that individual Stratesaurus were swimming in European waters near the Triassic/Jurassic boundary, which … Read more
In Depth While the plesiosaurs are usually seen as predators of fish Aristonectes took the different and much more specialist path of filter feeder. The teeth in the jaws were very short with crowns that were less than one centimetre high. There were a high number of these teeth which were densely packed together in … Read more
In Depth Palmulasaurus was initially named as Palmula when first described in 2007, but it was soon realised that Palmula was actually preoccupied by a genus of foraminifer (an amoeboid protist), hence the later addition of the Ancient Greek ‘saurus’ which means ‘lizard’. In 2007 Albright, Gillette and Titus also named of polycotylid plesiosaur from … Read more