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Pliosaurus

Reptilia - Plesiosauria - Pliosauridae

Taxonomy
Plesiosaurus (Pleiosaurus) was named by Owen (1841) [Sepkoski's age data: J l J Tith-l].

It was reranked as Pleiosaurus by Phillips (1871); it was reranked as Pliosaurus by Owen (1842), Meyer (1845), d'Orbigny (1849), Owen (1859), Owen (1860), Owen (1861), Cope (1871), Seeley (1874), Cope (1875), Lydekker (1889), Stefano (1903), Andrews (1913), White (1940), Tarlo (1960), Delair (1960), Carroll (1988), Malakhov (1999), Sepkoski (2002), Noè et al. (2004), Ketchum and Benson (2010), Ketchum and Benson (2011), Knutsen (2012), Knutsen et al. (2012), Sassoon et al. (2012), Benson et al. (2013), Gasparini and O'Gorman (2014), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014), O'Gorman (2016), O’Gorman et al. (2018) and O'Gorman et al. (2018).

It was assigned to Plesiosaurus by Owen (1841); to Enaliosauria by Owen (1842); to Nexipodes by Meyer (1845); to Ichthyosauridae by d'Orbigny (1849); to Sauropterygia by Owen (1860); to Sauropterygia by Owen (1859) and Owen (1861); to Plesiosauria by Phillips (1871); to Plesiosauridae by Cope (1871), Cope (1875), Lydekker (1889) and Stefano (1903); to Plesiosauria by Sepkoski (2002); to Pliosauridae by Seeley (1874), Andrews (1913), White (1940), Tarlo (1960), Delair (1960), Carroll (1988), Malakhov (1999), Noè et al. (2004), Ketchum and Benson (2010), Ketchum and Benson (2011), Knutsen (2012), Knutsen et al. (2012), Sassoon et al. (2012) and O'Gorman (2016); and to Thalassophonea by Benson et al. (2013), Gasparini and O'Gorman (2014), Benson and Druckenmiller (2014), O’Gorman et al. (2018) and O'Gorman et al. (2018).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1824Plesiosaurus giganteus Conybeare
1838Ischyrodon Merian
1841Plesiosaurus (Pleiosaurus) Owen pp. 282-285 figs. Plate 68, fig. 5-5''
1842Pliosaurus Owen p. 64
1845Spondylosaurus Fischer
1845Pliosaurus Meyer p. 281
1845Ischyrodon Meyer p. 282
1849Pliosaurus d'Orbigny p. 211
1849Spondylosaurus d'Orbigny p. 211
1852Ischyrodon Quenstedt p. 119
1859Pliosaurus Owen p. 148
1860Pliosaurus Owen p. 232
1861Pliosaurus Owen p. 252
1861Spondylosaurus Owen p. 255
1871Pliosaurus Cope p. 235
1871Pleiosaurus Phillips
1874Cetiosaurus rigauxi Sauvage p. 19
1874Pliosaurus Seeley
1875Pliosaurus Cope p. 15
1889Pliosaurus Lydekker pp. 120-123 fig. 36
1903Pliosaurus Stefano p. 66
1913Pliosaurus Andrews p. 2
1940Pliosaurus White p. 465
1948Peloneustes irigisensis Novozhilov p. 118 fig. 1b
1959Stretosaurus Tarlo
1960Pliosaurus Delair p. 69
1960Pliosaurus Tarlo p. 152
1960Stretosaurus Tarlo p. 159
1960Pliosaurus irgisensis Tarlo p. 174
1988Pliosaurus Carroll
1988Stretosaurus Carroll
1999Pliosaurus Malakhov p. 241
2000Pliosaurus irgisensis Storrs et al. p. 192
2002Pliosaurus Sepkoski
2002Stretosaurus Sepkoski
2004Pliosaurus Noè et al. p. 14
2004Pliosaurus portentificus Noè et al. p. 14 figs. 1-2
2010Pliosaurus Ketchum and Benson p. 15
2011Pliosaurus Ketchum and Benson p. 126
2012Pliosaurus Knutsen p. 260
2012Pliosaurus Knutsen et al. pp. 238-239
2012Pliosaurus Sassoon et al. p. 4 figs. 2-11
2013Pliosaurus Benson et al.
2014Pliosaurus Benson and Druckenmiller figs. 2-3
2014Pliosaurus Gasparini and O'Gorman
2016Pliosaurus O'Gorman p. 38
2018Pliosaurus O'Gorman et al.
2018Pliosaurus O’Gorman et al. p. 242

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
RankNameAuthor
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
Sauropsida
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
Romeriida
Diapsida()
suborderSauropterygia
orderPlesiosauriade Blainville 1835
superfamilyPliosauroideaWelles 1943
familyPliosauridaeSeeley 1874
Thalassophonea
genusPliosaurus()

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Pliosaurus Owen 1841
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Pleiosaurus macromerus Phillips 1871
Pliosaurus almanzaensis O’Gorman et al. 2018
Pliosaurus andrewsi Tarlo 1960
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Invalid names: Peloneustes sterrodeirus Seeley 1869 [synonym]
Pliosaurus carpenteri Benson et al. 2013
Pliosaurus funkei Knutsen et al. 2012
Pliosaurus gamma Phillips 1871
Pliosaurus grandis Owen 1840
Pliosaurus grossouvrei Sauvage 1873
Pliosaurus kevani Benson et al. 2013
Pliosaurus patagonicus Gasparini and O'Gorman 2014
Pliosaurus rossicus Novozhilov 1948
Pliosaurus westburyensis Benson et al. 2013
Invalid names: Cetiosaurus rigauxi Sauvage 1874 [nomen dubium], Ischyrodon Merian 1838 [synonym], Plesiosaurus giganteus Conybeare 1824 [nomen oblitum], Pliosaurus irgisensis Novozhilov 1948 [nomen dubium], Pliosaurus portentificus Noè et al. 2004 [nomen dubium], Spondylosaurus Fischer 1845 [synonym], Stretosaurus Tarlo 1959 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
R. Lydekker 1889Skull relatively very large, elongated, with moderately long mandibular symphysis, which usually extends to the 7th tooth, and the premaxillary and opposing lower teeth enlarged. Teeth large and stout, with strongly marked ridges, and generally a pair of carinas, which are frequently separated by a smooth space. Neck short, with the anterior vertebrae large. Vertebras with the arches and cervical ribs articulating to the centrum only by synchondrosis, and with flat zygapophyses ; cervicals (fig. 38) with very short centra, which in the anterior region carry two distinct costal facets and have very slightly cupped terminal faces, but in the posterior region have flattened faces and single facets ; dorsals with flat faces and a forward overhang of upper part of centrum. Centra of middle cervicals with subcylindrical terminal faces, but those at the extremities of the series with the same faces transversely elliptical. Pectoral girdle (fig. 36) of the general type of that of Peloneustes (infra), the ventral plates of the scapulae either meeting in the median line or perhaps separated by a small omosternum ; coracoids apparently not produced in advance of glenoid cavity. Ventral plates of scapulae large, broad, and flat, the dorsal portion being relatively smaller than in Thaumatosaurus (infra). In the pelvis the pubis nearly square ; ischia elongated (as in fig. 44). In the adult the pubis may have joined the ischium to form an obturator foramen. Humerus shorter than femur, and articulating with only the radius and ulna, which are shortened, oblong, and separated by a very small interval.
E. M. Knutsen 2012Pliosaurid plesiosaurian with 6-9 pairs of teeth adjacent to the mandibular symphysis (counted to a transverse line drawn across the dentary where the posterodorsal fusion of the dentaries ends); anterior teeth with a flat, smooth labial surface, convex lingual surface with longitudinal enamelled ridges, and that are trihedral in cross-section.
R. B. J. Benson et al. 2013Pliosaurids possessing seven autapomorphies: (1) trihedral or subtrihedral teeth (although similar teeth are also present in Gallardosaurus iturraldei from the Oxfordian of Cuba [12], which may or may not be referable to Pliosaurus; see Phylogenetic analysis); (2) anterior end of premaxilla–maxilla contact on lateral surface of snout deeply interdigitating with an anteroposteriorly ‘zig-zagging’ appearance; (3) occipital condyle lacking notochordal pit, but scored by several, irregularly-arranged grooves; (4) first (mesialmost) premaxillary alveolus reduced to approximately half or less the diameter of the second alveolus (although an even smaller, perhaps vestigial, first alveolus may be present in some Cretaceous pliosaurids [27]); (5) long posteroventral process of the jugal ventrally underlaps the squamosal; (6) dorsal surface of surangular mediolaterally broad, as in other thalassophonean pliosaurids, but inclined to face dorsolaterally (except in Pliosaurus carpenteri n. sp.) and bounded laterally by an anteroposteriorly oriented groove, unlike in other pliosaurids (this groove is absent in P. carpenteri and an immature specimen proposed as the ‘neotype’ of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus by Knutsen [34], CAMSM (Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, United Kingdom) J.35991); (7) proximal surfaces of radius and tibia markedly convex in large individuals (possibly controlled by ontogeny and absent in immature specimens such as CAMSM J.35991 and the holotype of Pliosaurus brachydeirus).
Measurements
No measurements are available
Composition: hydroxyapatitesuperf
Environment: marinesuperf
Locomotion: actively mobilesuperf
Life habit: nektonicsuperf
Depth habitat: surfaceo
Diet: carnivoresuperf
Reproduction: viviparouso
Dispersal: direct/internalsuperf
Created: 2005-11-07 12:13:24
Modified: 2009-07-25 10:49:01
Source: superf = superfamily, o = order
References: Hampe 2005, Kiessling 2004

Age range: base of the Middle Callovian to the top of the Late/Upper Maastrichtian or 164.70000 to 66.00000 Ma

Collections (49 total)


Time interval Ma Country or state Original ID and collection number
Jurassic201.3 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) Pliosaurus indet. (141865)
Callovian166.1 - 163.5France (Poitou-Charentes) P. sp. (106921)
Middle Callovian164.7 - 161.2United Kingdom (England) Peloneustes evansi (109800) P. grandis (133067)
Oxfordian163.5 - 157.3Poland (Śląskie) P. andrewsi (106467)
Oxfordian163.5 - 157.3United Kingdom (England) P. grossouvrei (141850)
Late/Upper Oxfordian161.2 - 155.7United Kingdom (England) P. sp. (36582) P. sp., P. grossouvrei (91991)
Middle Oxfordian161.2 - 155.7United Kingdom (Oxfordshire) P. grossouvrei (42340)
Kimmeridgian157.3 - 152.1France (Nord-Pas-de-Calais) P. grandis (65033)
Kimmeridgian157.3 - 152.1United Kingdom (England) P. brachydirus (47789)
Kimmeridgian - Early/Lower Tithonian157.3 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) P. brachydeirus (138286) P. brachydirus (92096 139861 139862) P. gamma (119666) Pliosaurus indet. (141828) Pliosaurus indet., P. brachydeirus (74931) P. sp. (138284) P. sp., P. brachydeirus (138282) P. sp., P. brachydirus (138283)
Kimmeridgian - Tithonian157.3 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) P. brachydirus (52557)
Early/Lower Kimmeridgian155.7 - 150.8United Kingdom (England) Liopleurodon macromerus (120291) Plesiosaurus sterrodeirus, P. portentificus, P. brachydirus, P. kevani (119508) P. kevani (145134) P. sp., P. brachydeirus (119665) Stretosaurus macromerus (114894)
Early/Lower Kimmeridgian155.7 - 150.8France (Nord-Pas-de-Calais) P. brachyspondylus (137236)
Late/Upper Kimmeridgian155.7 - 150.8United Kingdom (England) P. brachydeirus (47421) P. brachyspondylus (100263) P. grandis (119504) P. sp. (70996 127610)
Late/Upper Kimmeridgian - Early/Lower Tithonian155.7 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) P. brachydirus (139859) P. macromerus (140224)
Tithonian152.1 - 145.0Russian Federation (Saratov) P. irgisensis (127414)
Tithonian152.1 - 145.0Russian Federation (Chuvash) Liopleurodon rossicus (127453)
Tithonian152.1 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) P. sp. (93105)
Tithonian152.1 - 145.0Norway (Spitsbergen) P. funkei (134742 134743)
Early/Lower Tithonian150.8 - 145.0Argentina (Neuquén) Liopleurodon sp. (79651)
Late/Upper Tithonian150.8 - 145.0United Kingdom (England) P. brachydeirus (141825)
Late/Upper Tithonian150.8 - 145.0Argentina (Neuquén) P. almanzaensis (196358)
Late/Upper Tithonian150.8 - 145.0Russian Federation (Saratov) P. grandis (127456)
Middle Tithonian150.8 - 145.0France (Pas-de-Calais) Cetiosaurus rigauxi (53966)
Early/Lower Aptian125.45 - 122.46United Kingdom (England) P. sp. (36581)
Late/Upper Aptian122.46 - 112.03United Kingdom (England) P. sp. (58095)
Early/Lower Albian112.03 - 109.0France (Champagne-Ardenne) P. sp. (55335)
Late/Upper Maastrichtian70.6 - 66.0Chile (Concepcíon) P. sp. (13309)