Pliosaurus

Pliosaurus was an extinct genus of gigantic plesiosaur from the late Jurassic of Europe and South America. Their diet included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles.

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, 1842
Species
†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 Species pending reassessment †P. brachyspondylus (Owen, 1839) †P. macromerus (Philips, 1871) Species pending ICZN petition †P. patagonicus Gasparini & O'Gorman, 2014 †P. almanzaensis Gasparini, Spalleti & O'Gorman, 2018
Synonyms
Stretosaurus Tarlo, 1960 Spondylosaurus Fischer, 1845 Plesiosaurus giganteus Conybeare, 1824 Plesiosaurus recentior Parkinson, 1822 Liopleurodon rossicus (Novozhilov, 1948)

Most European species of Pliosaurus grew to about 8 metres (26 ft) long and weighed about 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons). Some would have been the largest plesiosaurs of all time, more than 10 metres (33 ft) in length. Their teeth were triangular in cross section.