Plesiosuchus
Name:
Plesiosuchus
(Near crocodile).
Phonetic: Ples-e-oh-soo-kus.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1884.
Synonyms: Steneosaurus manselii.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia, Metriorhynchidae, Geosaurini.
Species: P. manselii (type).
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Holotype estimated to be about 5.42 meters
long. A second larger individual has been estimated to be about
6.83 meters long.
Known locations: England - Kimmeridge Clay
Formation. Possibly also Spain - Tere�es Formation.
Time period: Kimmeridgian to Tithonian of the
Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and postcranial
remains of at least two individuals.
Originally
thought to be a skull of a pliosaur,
the Plesiosuchus
holotype
remains were originally credited as a species of Steneosaurus
by John
Hulke in 1870 . Steneosaurus is a genus of
teleosaurid
crocodile, a type believed to be common in coastal locations such as
estuaries where they fed upon fish. Later study though identified the
remains as actually belonging to a metriorhynchid crocodile,
a
different type of crocodile that has greater adaptations towards living
most of its life in the sea. As such in 1884, Richard Owen
established the genus Plesiosuchus from the
remains. In the past some
studies have considered Plesiosuchus to represent a
species of
Dakosaurus;
however the most recent studies at the time of writing
have concluded that Plesiosuchus is indeed a
distinct genus.
Plesiosuchus
has been identified as a geosaurine metiorhynchid, meaning that it is
closer to genera such as Geosaurus.
Geosaurines are noted as having
fairly long jaws and proportionately smaller teeth than other genera
such as Dakosaurus. With that said the teeth of Plesiosuchus
are
still large and could have been put to work on anything from large fish
to even other marine reptiles. Plesiosuchus is
also one of the
largest metriorhynchids, and with the largest known individual
measuring just under seven meters in length, Plesiosuchus
is
comparable to the larger pliosaurs of the time and location such as
smaller species of Pliosaurus
and Liopleurodon
(*special note -
Liopleurodon never reached lengths of twenty-five
meters, more
information on this is on the Liopleurodon page).
Further reading
- The Cranial Osteology and Feeding Ecology of the Metriorhynchid
Crocodylomorph Genera Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus
from the Late
Jurassic of Europe. In Richard J. Butler - PLoS ONE 7
(9): e44985 - M. T. Young, S. L. Brusatte, M.
B. De Andrade, J. B. Desojo, B. L. Beatty, L.
Steel, M. S. Fern�ndez, M. Sakamoto, J. I.
Ruiz-Ome�aca & R. R. Schoch - 2012.
- Filling the ‘Corallian Gap’: re-description of a
metriorhynchid crocodylomorph from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of
Headington, England. - Historical Biology - M. T. Young
- 2013.
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