Liopleurodon
Extinct Pliosaurid marine reptile / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Liopleurodon (/ˌlaɪoʊˈplʊərədɒn/; meaning 'smooth-sided teeth') is an extinct genus of carnivorous pliosaurs that lived from the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic to the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic period (c. 166 to 155 mya). The taxonomic history of the animal is quite complex. The type species L. ferox, which is probably the only valid species, was erected in 1873 by Henri Émile Sauvage from a single tooth discovered near the French commune of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in Pas-de-Calais. Rather, in 1869 Harry Govier Seeley erected a species of Pliosaurus, Pliosaurus pachydeirus, based on a series of cervical vertebrae that had been discovered near the civil parish of Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire, England. In 1960, Lambert Beverly Tarlo moved this species within the genus Liopleurodon. However, its validity as a distinct species has been questioned since the beginning of the 21st century, in particular because its supposed distinctive characteristics would be in fact individual variations, suggesting that it is a probable junior synonym of L .ferox. However, identification of a neotype specimen of L. ferox is necessary to confirm whether this observation is true. Numerous fossil specimens attributed to Liopleurodon, even including numerous skeletons, have been discovered in Europe, Russia and Mexico. Other additional species were even proposed, but these are currently seen as coming from other pliosaurid genera.
Liopleurodon | |
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L. ferox skeleton, Museum of Paleontology, Tübingen | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Plesiosauria |
Family: | †Pliosauridae |
Clade: | †Thalassophonea |
Genus: | †Liopleurodon Sauvage, 1873 |
Type species | |
†Liopleurodon ferox Sauvage, 1873 | |
Species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Liopleurodon is a representative of the Thalassophonea clade, a derived group of pliosaurids characterized by a short neck and a large elongated skull. In 1999, the size of Liopleurodon was greatly exaggerated in the BBC documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, depicted as reaching 25 m (82 ft) in length. However, the different attributed specimens show that the animal should reach a size ranging from 4 to 8 m (13 to 26 ft) long, with some researchers estimating a maximum length of approximately 10 m (33 ft). Various studies suggest that Liopleurodon would have been a ambush predator, feeding on fish, cephalopods and other marine reptiles.