Pliosaurus fossil map
Where fossils of Pliosaurus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 145 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 145 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Plesiosaurs & kin |
|---|---|
| Lived | 165.3–66 million years ago (Callovian to Maastrichtian) |
| Periods | Jurassic, Cretaceous |
| Family | Pliosauridae |
| Named by | (Owen 1841) |
| Fossil records | 57 occurrences at 41 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | UK, France, Russian Federation, Norway, Argentina, Poland, Chile |
| Rock formations | Kimmeridge Clay, txn:38178, Coral Rag, Oxford Clay, Agardhfjellet, Vaca Muerta |
About Pliosaurus
Pliosaurus is the type genus (defining example) of the pliosaurs, one of the major group of the plesiosaurs, an extinct group of aquatic marine reptiles. It lived from the Upper Jurassic to the Lower Cretaceous in what is now Europe and South America. The first known fossil consists of a partial skeleton of an immature specimen collected by William Buckland in Market Rasen, England. Although initially mentioned in a 1824 paper by William Daniel Conybeare, it was not until 1841 that it was first formally described by Richard Owen as belonging to a new species of Plesiosaurus, before being given its own genus by the same author later that year. The genus name Pliosaurus means "more lizard", Owen naming the taxon of because its appearance being more reminiscent of crocodilians than to Plesiosaurus. While many species have been assigned to Pliosaurus in the past, only six are firmly recognised as valid since a 2013 paper. Two additional species from Argentina were named in 2014 and 2018, but their assignment to the genus has not been fully confirmed in subsequent classifications.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Pliosaurus (revision 1368825267), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 22 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q134771.
