Megalneusaurus

Megalneusaurus is an extinct genus of large pliosaur that lived in the Sundance Sea during the Kimmeridgian, ~156-152 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic. It was named by paleontologist W. C. Knight in 1895.

Illustration of some of the holotype fossils

Megalneusaurus
Temporal range: 156.2–152 Ma
↓
Late Jurassic
Restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptile
Superorder:
†Sauropterygia
Order:
†Plesiosauria
Suborder:
†Pliosauroidea
Family:
†Pliosauridae
Genus:
†Megalneusaurus

W. C. Knight, 1898
Binomial name
†Megalneusaurus rex
(W. C. Knight, 1895)

The genus and type species was based upon ribs, vertebrae, a fore-paddle and fragments of the pectoral girdle discovered in Wyoming, USA in 1895.[1] The species named as Megalneusaurus rex (meaning "great swimming lizard King") in 1898.[2] However some of this material has since been lost, although new material has been discovered from the same site.[3] Based upon the bones very large size, it appears to have grown to a size comparable to Liopleurodon.

Material from southern Alaska have been referred to Megalneusaurus, although this material is from an individual of much smaller size.[4]

Description

Megalneusaurus is said to reach lengths of 7.6–9.7 m (25–32 ft), though there are some estimates that propose a length of 11 meters.[5]

Habitat

Megalneusaurus hunted in the warm waters of the Sundance Sea around 150 million years ago. The large, inland sea hosted a wide array of marine reptiles.[6]

Diet

While no stomach contents of Megalneusaurus have been discovered, it is reasonable to assume that it ate medium-sized marine reptiles such as the ichthyosaur Ophthalmosaurus[7] , and the cryptoclidid plesiosaur Pantosaurus.[8]

See also

References
  1. Knight WC. 1895 A new Jurassic plesiosaur from Wyoming. Science 2: 449.
  2. Knight WC. 1898. Some new Jurassic vertebrates from Wyoming. American Journal of Science 4: 378-381.
  3. Wahl WR, Ross M, Massare JA. 2007. Rediscovery of Wilbur Knight’s Megalneusaurus rex site: new material from an old pit. Paludicola 6 (2): 94-104.
  4. Weems RE, Blodgett RB. 1996. The pliosaurid Megalneusaurus: a newly recognized occurrence in the Upper Jurassic Neknek Formation of the Alaska Peninsula. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2152: 169-175.
  5. http://www.paleonature.org/lets-go-scientific/91-the-largest-pliosaurid-from-north-america
  6. "Mesozoic Stratigraphy in the Thermopolis Area". Big Horn Basin Foundation. Retrieved 2007-02-06
  7. Ilaria Paparella; Erin E. Maxwell; Angelo Cipriani; Scilla Roncacè; Michael W. Caldwell (2017). "The first ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur from the Upper Jurassic of the Umbrian–Marchean Apennines (Marche, Central Italy)". Geological Magazine. 154 (4): 837–858. doi:10.1017/S0016756816000455.
  8. O'Keefe FR, and Wahl W. (2003). "Current taxonomic status of the plesiosaur Pantosaurus striatus from the Upper Jurassic Sundance Formation, Wyoming". Paludicola. 4 (2): 37–46.


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