Pliosaurs: The Jurassic’s Most Powerful Predators | Size, Phylogeny, Physiology

Pliosaurs were the Jurassic’s most powerful predators, and continued to dominate as apex predators into the Early Cretaceous. Their four-flipper build gave them agility and their enormous bone-crushing skulls defined the iconic pliosaur look. The biggest skull of the Mesozoic didn’t belong to T. rex, or Giganotosaurus, or even Spinosaurus. As impressive as those megatheropods’ chompers were, they were dwarfed by the ocean-going giants like Sachicasaurus, Kronosaurus, and Pliosaurus, which had skulls up to two and a half meters long. We’re going to cover the body size, phylogeny, and physiology of the Pliosauridae, going through taxon by taxon and discussing the factors that made them such a successful and iconic clade of gigantic marine carnivores. Thumbnail art by Baols 00:00: Pliosaurs Were The Jurassic’s Most Powerful Predators 00:00: Thalassiodracon hawkinsii 00:00: Hauffiosaurus longirostris/tomistomimus/zanoni 00:00: Attenborosaurus conybeari 00:00: Anguanax zignoi 00:00: Marmornectes candrewi 00:00: Eardasaurus 00:00: Gallardosaurus 00:00: Ischyrodon 00:00: Peloneustes philarchus 00:00: “Pliosaurus” andrewsi 00:00: Pliosaurus kevani/rossicus/funkei 00:00: Simolestes vorax 00:00: Lorrainosaurus keileni 00:00: Liopleurodon ferox 00:00: Megalneusaurus 00:00: Makhaira rossica 00:00: Acostasaurus 00:00: Sachicasaurus vitae 00:00: Luskhan itilensis 00:00: Stenorhynchosaurus munozi 00:00: Kronosaurus 00:00: Boyacasaurus 00:00: Monquirasaurus 00:00: Brachauchenius 00:00: Megacephalosaurus