Pliosauridae Temporal range: Late Triassic - Late Cretaceous,
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Cast of Attenborosaurus conybeari (NHMUK R1339), Natural History Museum | |
Liopleurodon ferox mounted skeleton, Museum of Paleontology, Tübingen | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
Order: | †Plesiosauria |
Suborder: | †Pliosauroidea |
Family: | †Pliosauridae Seeley, 1874 |
Subgroups | |
Pliosauridae is a family of plesiosaurian marine reptiles from the Latest Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous (Rhaetian to Turonian stages) of Australia, Europe, North America and South America. The family is more inclusive than the archetypal short-necked large headed species that are placed in the subclade Thalassophonea, with basal forms resembling other plesiosaurs with long necks. They became extinct during the early Late Cretaceous and were subsequently replaced by the mosasaurs. It was formally named by Harry G. Seeley in 1874.[1]