Pliosaurs
- Pliosauroids (often referred to simply as pliosaurs) are an extinct group of short-necked plesiosaurs that lived from the Triassic to Cretaceous . Apparently, it is not a natural biological group in the rank of a superfamily or infraorder, but a special morphotype.
| † Pliosaurs | ||||||||||||||
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 Pliosaurus brachydeirus | ||||||||||||||
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| Pliosaurus ( Owen , 1841 ) | ||||||||||||||
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- Pliosaurus ( lat. Pliosaurus ) is a type genus of this group.
Genus Pliosaurus
Described by R. Owen in 1841. Originally considered a reptile like a crocodile (the name means “more reptile”), unlike a plesiosaur .
Representatives of this genus apparently did not differ much from the well-known lyopleurodon : the main difference lies in the structure of the skull and the larger number of teeth , which had triangular rather than conical sections, which makes them more suitable for tearing pieces of meat from the victim's body. These were the largest sauroperterigias , along with a kronosaurus , megalnaeosaur, and a number of unclassified taxa (such as the Aramberry Monster ). The length of the largest known representatives of more than 10-13 meters with a skull length of more than 2 meters.
Includes 5 types:
- Pliosaurus brachydeirus typus is a species from the Kimmeridge of England .
- Pliosaurus brachyspondylus - also from England's kimmeridge, is known for its relatively complete skeleton .
- Pliosaurus funkei - one of the largest representatives of the squad; before receiving a formal description appeared with the name "Predator X".
- Pliosaurus andrewsi - from the Callovian of England, a large form with teeth rounded in cross section. It can be a large form of peloneustus .
- Pliosaurus irgisensis - from the Volga layer (titon) of the Saratov region . An incomplete skeleton was discovered in 1933 in the Savelyevsky shale mine by K.I. Zhuravlev , described by N.I. Novozhilov in 1948 . Initially assigned to the genus Peloneustus , then (in 1964) isolated in a special genus Strongylokrotaphus . It came close to policotilides, but it belongs to pliosaurids. The skull is low and long, with a thin muzzle. Very long narrow flippers . The length of the skull is about 1.5 meters, the back fins - up to 2 meters. Bones of fish and small ichthyosaurus , as well as hooks from the tentacles of belemnites, were found in the abdominal cavity. In the literature it is mentioned that the skeleton was mounted, but only the skull (incomplete) and the fins are depicted.
- Pliosaurus macromerus is a large species previously mistakenly classified as lyopleurodon. Comes from Norway. [one]
Residues are also described from South America and Asia .
Giant pliosaurs were apparently the highest predators and fed on marine reptiles and other aquatic vertebrates. Interestingly, inside the skeleton of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus , several shields of some armored dinosaur were discovered; probably, shortly before his death, the pliosaurus ate the dinosaur’s floating corpse.
Notes
- ↑ Roger BJ Benson, Mark Evans, Adam S. Smith, Judyth Sassoon, Scott Moore-Faye. A Giant Pliosaurid Skull from the Late Jurassic of England // PLoS ONE. - 2013-05-31. - T. 8 , no. 5 . - S. e65989 . - DOI : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0065989 .
Literature
- Fundamentals of paleontology: Amphibians, reptiles and birds / ed. A.K. Rozhdestvensky, L.P. Tatarinov. - M., 1964 .-- S. 328-331.
- Fossil reptiles and birds, part 1. - ed. M.F. Ivakhnenko and E.N. Kurochkina. - M., Geos., 2008 .-- S. 234.
- Khudyakov D. S. Traveling on the shores of the seas that no one has ever seen. - Saratov, 1989 .-- S. 113-115.