Plesiosaur size

An example of a plesiosaur

Plesiosaurs are extinct marine reptiles.

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]

Plesiosaurs

The longest known plesiosauroid was Elasmosaurus at 14 metres (46 feet) long.

Longest plesiosaurs
  1. Elasmosaurus platyurus: 14 m (46 ft)[4]
  2. Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae: 13 m (43 ft)[5]

Heaviest plesiosaurs
  1. Elasmosaurus platyurus: 2 t (2.0 long tons; 2.2 short tons)[4]

Pliosaurs

Longest pliosaurs
  1. The NHM symphysis: 9.1–15.1 m (30–50 ft)[2]
  2. The Peterborough vertebra: 11.6–14.2 m (38–47 ft)[2](hypothetical)
  3. Pliosaurus rossicus/Pliosaurus macromerus: 11.4–12.7 m (37–42 ft)[2]
  4. Monster of Aramberri: 11.7–12.4 m (38–41 ft)[2][6]
  5. Pliosaurus funkei: 10–13 m (33–43 ft)[7]
  6. Pliosaurus kevani: 10–13 m (33–43 ft)[3]
  7. Kronosaurus queenslandicus: 10.5–10.9 m (34–36 ft)[2]

Heaviest pliosaurs
  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)[7]
  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]
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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 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. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065989. PMC 3669260. PMID 23741520.
  4. "Elasmosaurus - paleofilescom".
  5. Welles, S.P. (1943). Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs with a description of the new material from California and Colorado. University of California Memoirs 13. pp. 125–254
  6. 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
  7. Espen M. Knutsen, Patrick S. Druckenmiller and Jørn H. Hurum (2012). "A new species of Pliosaurus (Sauropterygia: Plesiosauria) from the Middle Volgian of central Spitsbergen, Norway". Norwegian Journal of Geology. 92 (2–3): 235–258. ISSN 0029-196X.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) Low resolution pdf High resolution pdf
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