Plesiosaur size

Plesiosaurs are a clade of extinct marine reptiles.

An example of a plesiosaur

Record sizes
Plesiosaur skeleton of Meyerasaurus in the Museum am Löwentor, Stuttgart, seen from below

In general, plesiosaurians varied in adult length from between 1.5 metres (5 ft) to about 15 metres (49 ft). The group thus contained some of the largest marine apex predators in the fossil record, roughly equalling the longest ichthyosaurs, mosasaurids, sharks and toothed whales in size. Some plesiosaurian remains, such as a 2.9 metres (10 ft) long set of highly reconstructed and fragmentary lower jaws preserved in the Oxford University Museum and referable to Pliosaurus rossicus (previously referred to Stretosaurus[1] and Liopleurodon), indicated a length of 13 metres (43 ft).[2] However, it was recently argued that its size cannot be currently determined due to their being poorly reconstructed. MCZ 1285, a specimen currently referable to Kronosaurus queenslandicus, from the Early Cretaceous of Australia, was estimated to have a skull length of 2.85 m (9 ft).[3]

Plesiosauroids

The longest known plesiosauroid was Aristonectes at 11.86 metres (38.9 feet) long.

Longest plesiosauroids
  1. Aristonectes sp.: 10–11.86 metres (32.8–38.9 ft)[4]
  2. Albertonectes vanderveldei: 11.2–11.6 m (37–38 ft)[5]
  3. Thalassomedon haningtoni: 10.86–11.6 m (35.6–38.1 ft)[6][7]
  4. Fresnosaurus drescheri: more than 10.5 m (34 ft)[8]
  5. Styxosaurus snowii: 10.5 m (34 ft)[4]
  6. Elasmosaurus platyurus: 10.3 m (34 ft)[6]
  7. Hydralmosaurus serpentinus: 9.44 m (31.0 ft)[6]
  8. Tuarangisaurus keyesi: 8 m (26 ft)[4]
  9. Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae: 7.8 m (26 ft)[6]

In past, Mauisaurus was considered to be more than 8 m (26 ft) in length,[9][6] but later it was determined as nomen dubium.[10]

Pliosauroids

Longest pliosauroids
  1. The NHM symphysis: 9.1–15.1 m (30–50 ft)[2]
  2. Abingdon pliosaur: 9.8–14.4 m (32–47 ft)[11]
  3. The Peterborough vertebra: 11.6–14.2 m (38–47 ft)[2](hypothetical)
  4. Pliosaurus funkei: 10–13 m (33–43 ft)[12]
  5. Pliosaurus kevani: 10–13 m (33–43 ft)[3]
  6. Pliosaurus rossicus/Pliosaurus macromerus: 11.4–12.7 m (37–42 ft)[2]
  7. Monster of Aramberri: 11.7–12.4 m (38–41 ft)[2][13]
  8. Kronosaurus queenslandicus: 10.5–10.9 m (34–36 ft)[2]
  9. Megalneusaurus rex: 7.6–9.1 m (25–30 ft)[14]
  10. Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: 7 m (23 ft)[15][16]

Heaviest pliosauroids
  1. The NHM symphysis: 7–32 t (6.9–31.5 long tons; 7.7–35.3 short tons)[2]
  2. The Peterborough vertebra: 14.6–26.6 t (14.4–26.2 long tons; 16.1–29.3 short tons)[2](hypothetical)
  3. Pliosaurus rossicus/Pliosaurus macromerus: 19.2 t (18.9 long tons; 21.2 short tons)[2]
  4. Monster of Aramberri: 14.9–17.8 t (14.7–17.5 long tons; 16.4–19.6 short tons)[2]
  5. Pliosaurus funkei: 10.6–17 t (10.4–16.7 long tons; 11.7–18.7 short tons)[12]
  6. Pliosaurus kevani: 10.6–17 t (10.4–16.7 long tons; 11.7–18.7 short tons)[3]
  7. Kronosaurus queenslandicus: 10.6–12.1 t (10.4–11.9 long tons; 11.7–13.3 short tons)[2]

References
  1. Tarlo, L.B.H. (1959). "Stretosaurus gen nov., a giant pliosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay". Palaeontology. 2 (2): 39–55.
  2. McHenry, Colin Richard (2009). "Devourer of Gods: the palaeoecology of the Cretaceous pliosaur Kronosaurus queenslandicus" (PDF): 1–460. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Benson, R. B. J.; Evans, M.; Smith, A. S.; Sassoon, J.; Moore-Faye, S.; Ketchum, H. F.; Forrest, R. (2013). Butler, Richard J (ed.). "A Giant Pliosaurid Skull from the Late Jurassic of England". PLOS ONE. 8 (5): e65989. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...865989B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065989. PMC 3669260. PMID 23741520.
  4. Paul, Gregory S. (2022). The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles. Princeton University Press. pp. 117–119. ISBN 9780691193809.
  5. Kubo, T.; Mitchell, M. T.; Henderson, D. M. (2012). "Albertonectes vanderveldei, a new elasmosaur (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 32 (3): 557–572. doi:10.1080/02724634.2012.658124. S2CID 129500470.
  6. O'Gorman, J.P. (2016). "A Small Body Sized Non-Aristonectine Elasmosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia with Comments on the Relationships of the Patagonian and Antarctic Elasmosaurids". Ameghiniana. 53 (3): 245–268. doi:10.5710/AMGH.29.11.2015.2928. S2CID 133139689.
  7. Smith, Elliott Armour. (2020). "Revision of the Genus Styxosaurus and Relationships of the Late Cretaceous Elasmosaurids (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) of the Western Interior Seaway". Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. 1335. https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1335
  8. Fresnosaurus from the Plesiosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide
  9. Hiller, Norton; Mannering, A.A.; Jones, C.M.; Cruickshank, A.R.I. (2005). "The nature of Mauisaurus haasti Hector, 1874 (Reptilia: Plesiosauria)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25 (3): 588–601. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0588:TNOMHH]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 130607702.
  10. Hiller, Norton; O’Gorman, José P.; Otero, Rodrigo A.; Mannering, Al A. (2017). "A reappraisal of the Late Cretaceous Weddellian plesiosaur genus Mauisaurus Hector, 1874". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 60 (2): 112–128. doi:10.1080/00288306.2017.1281317. S2CID 132037930.
  11. Martill, David M.; Jacobs, Megan L.; Smith, Roy E. (2023). "A truly gigantic pliosaur (Reptilia Sauropterygia) from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic, Kimmeridgian) of England". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.
  12. Knutsen, Espen M.; Druckenmiller, Patric S.; Hurum, Jørn H. (2012). "A new species of Pliosaurus (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Middle Volgian of central Spitsbergen, Norway" (PDF). Norwegian Journal of Geology. 92: 235–258. ISSN 1502-5322. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2020.
  13. Eberhard Frey and Wolfgang Stinnesbeck Plesiosaurs, Reptiles between Grace and Awe In: Héctor E. Rivera-Sylva, Kenneth Carpenter, Eberhard Frey (2014) Dinosaurs and Other Reptiles from the Mesozoic of Mexico, Indiana University Press, p.88
  14. "The Largest Pliosaurid from North America". Archived from the original on 1 August 2016.
  15. Adam S. Smith & Gareth J. Dyke (2008). "The skull of the giant predatory pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni: implications for plesiosaur phylogenetics" (PDF). Naturwissenschaften. 95 (10): 975–980. Bibcode:2008NW.....95..975S. doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0402-z. PMID 18523747. S2CID 12528732. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2022.
  16. Adam S. Smith. "Rhomaleosaurus". Plesiosauria.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022.
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