In Depth Yuzhoupliosaurus was an interesting find as it was the first rhomaleosaurid pliosaur to be discovered outside of Europe. Rhomaleosaurids like Yuzhoupliosaurus were long necked pliosaurs that looked somewhere between the plesiosaurs like Plesiosaurus, and the shorter necked, large skulled forms like Simolestes and Liopleurodon. Yuzhoupliosaurus itself would have likely been a predator of … Read more
In Depth As dedicated eaters of shellfish, the placodonts had no need to grow big and were soon outsized by other marine reptiles such as the nothosaurs. As such placodonts like Cyamodus developed turtle-like shells to try and make themselves too tough for other marine reptiles to eat. Cyamodus itself had two shells, the first … Read more
In Depth The holotype remains of Vinialesaurus were initially known as a species of Cryptoclidus when it was first described in 1949, but later study has now revealed that there is enough difference between the Vinialesaurus holotype remains of other fossils of Cryptoclidus. As a cryptoclidid plesiosaur, Vinialesaurus would have likely been one of the … Read more
In Depth The first Dolichorhynchops specimens were recovered in 1900 by George F. and Charles H. Sternberg from the Smokey Hill Chalk Formation. After being named by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1902, the type specimen has been a regular feature in the display of the Museum of Kansas. The establishment of two additional species (D. … Read more
In Depth Honghesaurus is a genus of pachypleurosaur that lived during the Middle Triassic. Further Reading - A long-tailed marine reptile from China provides new insights into the Middle Triassic pachypleurosaur radiation. - Scientific Reports. 12 (1) - Guang-Hui Xu, Yi Ren, Li-Jun Zhao, Jun-Ling Liao & Dong-Hao Feng - 2022.
In Depth Known from the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Djupedalia seems to have been a medium sized cryptoclided plesiosaur of the late Jurassic. The partial fossil remains of Djupedalia indicate that that the holotype was a juvenile at the time of death and that it was very similar to genera such as Muraenosaurus and … Read more
In Depth Wunyelfia is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that lived in waters around South America during the late Cretaceous. Further reading - Wunyelfia maulensis gen. et sp. nov., a new basal aristonectine (Plesiosauria, Elasmosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of central Chile. - Cretaceous Research. 118: Article 104651. - Rodrigo A. Otero & Sergio Soto-Acu�a … Read more
In Depth Discosaurus is a genus of plesiosaur that is known to have swam in the waters of the Western Interior Seaway during the late Cretaceous. Further Reading - [Descriptions of a number of fossil reptiles and mammals] . - Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 5:325-328. - J. Leidy - 1851. … Read more
In Depth Kronosaurus is one of the more famous fossil discoveries to come from Australia, and as a huge short-necked pliosaur, Kronosaurus would have been an apex predator of the waters it swam in. The teeth of Kronosaurus are conical and up to thirty centimetres long, although most of that was root with up to … Read more
In Depth The exact classification of Hauffiosaurus can vary depending upon the source, though most researchers concede that it is almost certainly a pliosaur. Further to this, specimens of the genus are superficially similar to the rhomaleosaurid pliosaurs. In fact, one former species of Macroplata, one of the best known rhomaleosaurids has been re-assigned to … Read more