#plesiosauria

[haunthid]

"It might be too late to say, but I love you so much."

[alphynix]

Megacephalosaurus eulerti was a one of the last of the pliosaurs – a group of short-necked big-headed plesiosaurs – living during the Late Cretaceous (~93 million years ago) in what is now the Midwestern United States, a region that at that time was covered by the Western Interior Seaway.

Although known only from fossil skulls and a few neck bones, based on the proportions of related pliosaurs it probably reached around 9m long (~30') with its 1.75m (~5'9") head alone making up 20-25% of that measurement.

Its elongated jaws were lined with pointed conical teeth, and pits in the bones of its snout may have housed a complex sensory system, possibly giving it the ability to detect the movements or even bioelectric fields of nearby prey.

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References:

Foffa, Davide, et al. "Complex rostral neurovascular system in a giant pliosaur." Naturwissenschaften 101 (2014): 453-456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1173-3

Madzia, Daniel, Sven Sachs, and Johan Lindgren. "Morphological and phylogenetic aspects of the dentition of Megacephalosaurus eulerti, a pliosaurid from the Turonian of Kansas, USA, with remarks on the cranial anatomy of the taxon." Geological Magazine 156.7 (2019): 1201-1216. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756818000523

Schumacher, Bruce A., Kenneth Carpenter, and Michael J. Everhart. "A new cretaceous pliosaurid (reptilia, plesiosauria) from the carlile shale (middle turonian) of russell county, kansas." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33.3 (2013): 613-628. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2013.722576

Wikipedia contributors. “Megacephalosaurus” Wikipedia, 30 Mar. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacephalosaurus

[ppaleoartistgallery]

Pride Month

happy #PrideMonth btw

[theultimatenaturelover]

Kaiwhekea katiki, an aproximately 7 meter long plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous. A single, nearly complete fossils found in Katiki Formation is now in the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.

It's head shape is so weird istg. I thought it would be a fun idea to make it's tail similarly colored as it's head so it would make it hard for it's prey to know wether they're looking at the back or front lol.

[alefra2108]

Dimovember Day 12: Plesiosaurus

This is one of my first times drawing a marine reptile, but i think it turned out "Fine". Thank you tutorial i found on youtube on "How to draw Underwater scenes".

The color is inspired by the #jurassicworldthegame plesiosaur at level 40, of course, without the spiky desing that the game gives to the majority of creatures.

[makairodonx]

A huge 6-meter-long Liopleurodon ferox ambushes an unfortunate juvenile Cryptoclidus and camps its toothy jaws upon the small plesiosaur’s head 160 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now the Oxford Clay Formation of England.

[roygattero]

Sulcusuchus erraini

Vector illustration, 2025

Second instalment of "Paleo Vector":

[taxonomytournament]

Cryptotaxonomy Tournament Finale!

Note: these creatures do not actually exist. The following descriptions are facetious

Plesiosauria. This clade of ''extinct'' and ''pre-historic'' marine reptiles includes the Loch Ness Monster and Ogopogo, large long-necked monsters that live in lakes.

Lepus antilocapra. This rabbit species, known as the Jackalope, has antlers on its head.

Which clade of cryptids is better?

Plesiosauria

Lepus antilocapra

Show results

Voting ended onApr 12, 2024