Pliosauroidea

Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles within Plesiosauria, including pliosaurs and their close relatives. Many members had large heads, powerful jaws, and relatively short necks.

Plesiosauria: Plesiosauria is an extinct order of marine reptiles with four flippers, including plesiosauroids and pliosauroids. Pliosauroidea is one of the two major branches traditionally recognized within this broader group.
Pliosaur skull: A pliosaur skull is the broad, robust skull of a pliosauroid, commonly bearing long jaws and conical teeth. Its size and construction housed the sensory and feeding structures behind pliosauroid predation.
Kronosaurus: Kronosaurus is a genus of large Cretaceous pliosaur known from fossils in Australia and Colombia. Its massive skull and body illustrate the extreme size reached by some pliosauroids.
Thalassophonea: Thalassophonea is a clade of derived pliosauroids that includes many familiar large-headed Jurassic and Cretaceous forms. It captures a major radiation of the short-necked, large-skulled pliosauroids.
Plesiosaur phylogeny: Plesiosaur phylogeny is the reconstruction of evolutionary relationships among plesiosaurs using anatomical and fossil evidence. Competing analyses can alter which species belong within Pliosauroidea and how its branches relate.
Plesiosauroidea: Plesiosauroidea is a clade of plesiosaurs traditionally characterized by relatively small heads and long necks. It is the sister group commonly contrasted with the large-headed, short-necked pliosauroids.
Pliosaur jaw mechanics: Pliosaur jaw mechanics concerns how skull shape, muscle attachment, and tooth arrangement produced and directed bite forces. The skull’s robust build and tooth rows inform reconstructions of how pliosauroids seized prey.
Liopleurodon: Liopleurodon is a genus of Jurassic pliosaur known from fossils in Europe. Its fossil record provides a prominent example of a large-bodied Jurassic member of the clade.
Pliosauridae: Pliosauridae is a family of large-bodied pliosauroids that includes genera such as Pliosaurus and Kronosaurus. This family contains many classic examples of the group’s powerful-jawed forms.
Pliosaur taxonomy: Pliosaur taxonomy is the naming and classification of pliosaur fossils, genera, and species. Fragmentary remains and revised comparisons have repeatedly changed pliosauroid classifications.

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