†unranked clade Thalassophonea Benson and Druckenmiller 2014 (plesiosaur)

Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae

Full reference: R. B. J. Benson and P. S. Druckenmiller. 2014. Faunal turnover of marine tetrapods during the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. Biological Reviews 89(1):1-23

Parent taxon: Pliosauridae according to Z. Gasparini and J. P. O'Gorman 2014

See also Benson and Druckenmiller 2014, Benson et al. 2013, O’Gorman et al. 2018, Páramo-Fonseca et al. 2023 and Zverkov and Pervushov 2020

Sister taxa: Acostasaurus, Anguanax, Arminisaurus, Attenborosaurus, Cryonectes, Hauffiosaurus, Marmornectes, Pachycostasaurus, Pliosaurus aequalis, Pliosaurus evansi, Polyptchodon, Simolestinae, Sinopliosaurus, Stenorhynchosaurus, Strongylokrotaphus, Thalassiodracon

Subtaxa: Brachaucheninae Gallardosaurus Liopleurodon Makhaira Peloneustes Pliosaurus Pliosaurus brachyspondylus Pliosaurus macromerus Simolestes

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Ecology: nektonic carnivore

Distribution:

• Cretaceous of Argentina (1 collection), Australia (4), Chile (1), Colombia (3), France (1), the Russian Federation (3), the United Kingdom (3), United States (9: Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Texas, Utah)

• Jurassic of Argentina (2), Cuba (1), France (10), Germany (2), India (2), Kazakhstan (1), Norway (2), Poland (1), the Russian Federation (3), the United Kingdom (53)

Total: 102 collections including 126 occurrences

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