Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous pliosaurid plesiosaurs that lived from the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic to the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic period. The type species is L. ferox, which is probably the only valid species. Some studies also include the second species L. pachydeirus, but this latter is considered as a probable junior synonym of L. ferox due to its lack of viable diagnosis. Fossils attributed to Liopleurodon, including some skeletons, are mainly known from Europe, with one occurrence reported in Mexico. As the holotype specimen of L. ferox consists of a single tooth preserving questionable distinctive features, recent studies therefore recommend the necessary identification of a neotype in order to preserve its validity. Other additional species were even proposed, but these are currently seen as coming from other pliosaurid genera.

Liopleurodon

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikidata/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ThalassophoneaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pliosauroidea
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Pliosauroidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Pliosauroidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pliosauroidea
Length
6 mWikidata
Mass
1.7 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 18 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 143.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 137.05 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 10 of 13 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 2 of 13 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 13 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous166–165 Mya — about 1 occurrence165–164 Mya — about 3 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 3 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 3 occurrences162–161 Mya — about 1 occurrence161–160 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences155–154 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences143–142 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences142–141 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences141–140 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences140–139 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences139–138 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences138–137 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences161.5 Mya143.1 Mya165.9 Mya136.5 Mya

13 occurrences of Liopleurodon on record. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

13 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Oxford Clay — 52.57°N, 0.23°WOxford Clay — 50.61°N, 2.45°WOxford Clay — 51.50°N, 2.06°WOxford Clay — 52.55°N, 0.12°WOrnatenton — 52.28°N, 8.76°EOxford Clay — 50.75°N, 1.80°EAmpthill Clay — 52.18°N, 0.13°WVaca Muerta — 39.19°S, 69.67°WMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EArgiles de Montaubert — 50.73°N, 1.84°E

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The named rock units Liopleurodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Found in the same rock

68 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Liopleurodon, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

9 references

Each of the 13 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Liopleurodon

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itThalassophonea through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sauvage 1873