Pliosaurus

Pliosaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 155.7–147 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
P. kevani holotype skull
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	†Sauropterygia
Order:	†Plesiosauria
Family:	†Pliosauridae
Clade:	†Thalassophonea
Genus:	†Pliosaurus Owen, 1842
Type species
†Pliosaurus brachydeirus (Owen, 1841)
Species[3][4]
†P. almanzaensis Gasparini, Spalleti & O'Gorman, 2018[1] †P. brachydeirus (Owen, 1841) †P. carpenteri Benson et al., 2013 †P. funkei Knutsen et al., 2012 †P. kevani Benson et al., 2013 †P. rossicus Novozhilov, 1948 †P. westburyensis Benson et al., 2013 †P.? patagonicus Gasparini & O'Gorman, 2014[2]
Synonyms
Stretosaurus Tarlo, 1960 Spondylosaurus Fischer, 1845 Plesiosaurus giganteus Conybeare, 1824 Plesiosaurus recentior Parkinson, 1822 Liopleurodon rossicus (Novozhilov, 1948)

Pliosaurus (meaning 'more lizard') is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages) of Europe and South America. This genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only six (P. brachydeirus (type species), P. carpenteri, P. funkei, P. kevani, P. rossicus and P. westburyensis) to be definitively valid. One Patagonian species P. patagonicus likely belongs to a different genus within Brachaucheninae. Currently, P. brachyspondylus and P. macromerus are considered dubious, while P. portentificus is considered undiagnostic. Most European species of Pliosaurus would have measured around 10 metres (33 ft) long and weighed over 12 metric tons (13 short tons), though some potential specimens indicate a much larger size. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosaurids based on seven autapomorphies, including teeth that are triangular in cross section. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles.