Megalneusaurus
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| Megalneusaurus Fossil range: Late Jurassic |
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 Megalneusaurus
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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. The type species was named Megalneusaurus rex, and was based upon ribs, vertebrae, a fore-paddle and fragments of the pectoral girdle, however some of this material has since been lost (Creisler, 1998). This material was found in Wyoming, USA (Knight, 1895).
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 (Weems & Blodgett, 1996).
[edit] References
Creisler, B. (1998). Giant pliosaurs – real and imaginary. Dino-Dispatches: 1
Knight, W.C. (1895). A new Jurassic plesiosaur from Wyoming. Science 2: 449
Weems, R. E. & Blodgett, R. B. (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
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