Rhomaleosauridae

Fossil of Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni at the Natural History Museum in London

• England
• Argentina
• China

The Rhomaleosauridae ( = " sturdy lizard " ) are a family of Plesiosauria that existed from the Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous.

Features

The Rhomaleosauridae had a relatively short neck and a large head, the one-eighth to one-sixth of the body length could reach (up to 8 meters).

At the front end of the relatively short snout sat a spoon-shaped, studded with large, powerful fangs rosette. Had the comparatively stiff neck the 1.5 to two times the length of the skull, reaching 20 to 30% of the body length and was supported 26-30 cervical vertebrae with short Centra. The number of trunk vertebrae was about 20, the vertebrae of the tail about 37

System

The monophyly of the Rhomaleosauridae is not safe. You may also be a paraphyletic group Pliosaur original and the common features of convergent developments resulting from the same hunting techniques. Scientists are on this view, nevertheless often use the term " Rhomaleosaurid " to describe Pliosaur that have a specific body and skull morphology.

Genera

• Archaeonectrus
• Borealonectes
• Eurycleidus
• Leptocleidus
• Macro Plata
• Maresaurus
• Rhomaleosaurus
• Simolestes
• Sthenarosaurus
• Umoonasaurus