#plotosaurus

[chameleocoonj]

birthday baby and his friends :)

[ppaleoartistgallery]

Paleostream 24/02/2024

here are this week's #Paleostream drawings!

today we drew Megalosaurus, Stegotetrabelodon, Prestosucus, and Plotosaurus

[chukapower]

Plotosaurus

[veloci-raptor]

Flocking Together

Megalosaurus/Stegotetrabelodon

Prestosuchus/Plotosaurus

[justgoji]

Plotosaurus bennisoni, the most derived mosasaur. Who knows what it would’ve branched off into if the asteroid never hit.

With Hatsune Miku for scale:

[aberrantologist]

Doodles from today's flocking paleostream featuring Megalosaurus, Stegotetrabelodon, Prestosuchus and Plotosaurus.

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

All the species in the new Prehistoric Planet Trailer!

Pachycephalosaurus/Stygimoloch (we'll see their stance on that topic)

Nanuqsaurus, later seen hunting Ornithomimus

Some type of Titanosaur, can't identify it further

Triceratops with some ridiculous horns, most likely based on the "Yoshi's Trike" specimen who's pretty famous for his massive rack.

Isisaurus, both baby and adult

A Mosasaur, maybe Plotosaurus?

Elasmosaurs, maybe Tuarangisaurus from last season?

Velociraptors return and they have babies!

(Check reblogs for part 2)

Please guys just reblog the version with the full list, it's in the notes, Tumblr wouldn't let me put more pictures in the original post so I added the rest in the reblogs. I swear there were more than just 8 species in the new trailer, please.

[phantomplaguedoctor]

*Hands you a tylosaurus* *hands you a mosasaurus* *hands you a platecarpus* *hands you a halisaurus* *hands you a plotosaurus* *hands you a yaguarasaurus* *hands you a dallasaurus* *hands you an aigialisasaurus* *hands you an acteosaurus* *hands you an adriosaurus* *hands you an aigialosaurus* *hands you an amphekepibis* *hands you an amphorosteus* *hands you an ancylocentrum* *hands you an angolasaurus* * hands you a baptosaurus* *hands you a baseodon* *hands you a-

[actual-haise]

A Plotosaurus on the hunt, captured by an ROV.

[ancientmarinereptiles]

Plotosaurus bennisoni, P. tuckeri

Art by: Robinson Kunz, https://www.deviantart.com/teratophoneus/art/Plotosaurus-bennisoni-645366517

Name: Plotosaurus bennisoni, P. tuckeri

Name Meaning: ‬‭Swimmer lizard

First Described: 1951

Described By: ‬Camp

Classification: Chordata, Tetrapoda, Reptilia, ‭Squamata,‭ ‬Mosasauridae, Mosasaurinae

Plotosaurus, so far is the most derived mosasaur that paleontologists have come across. Plotosaurus was very derived because it had unique characteristics not seen in other mosasaurs. They had increased hyperphalangy in their flippers, powerful tail, and a streamlined body in which many speculate that it may have had a dorsal fin on its back. Plotosaurus also had big eyes as well. As you can see, they were evolving an ichthyosaur-like body plan as they began to dwell into deeper waters. I hypothesize that had the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) Extinction not happened, maybe mosasaurs would’ve become more ichthyosaur-like in their appearance. Also, Plotosaurus specimens were found with scaly skin impressions, which further provides evidence that mosasaurs retained their scales and did not lose them over time while keeping their aquatic lifestyle.

Sources:

Lindgren, J., Jagt, J.W.M., and Caldwell, M.W. 2007. A fishy mosasaur: the axial skeleton of Plotosaurus (Reptilia, Squamata) reassessed. Lethaia 40:153-160.

Lindgren, J., Alwmark, C., Caldwell, M.W., and Fiorillo, A.R. 2009. Skin of the Cretaceous mosasaur Plotosaurus: implications for aquatic adaptations in giant marine reptiles. Biology Letters doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0097

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/p/plotosaurus.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotosaurus

[cry-olophosaurus]

Plotosaurus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Plotosaurus was a genus of Mosasaur from late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) California. It has two known species, P. bennisoni (the species mounted in the photo) and P. tuckeri. Plotosaurus is also considered to be one of the most derived Mosasaurs, and perhaps one of the fastest swimmers as well. It's caudal (tail) fin was larger in comparison to it's body size than other Mosasaurs, it's flippers were a lot thinner, and it's body was a lot more streamlined.

[autoboty]

The Plotosaurus - Is super heavy, roars loudly and stomps around, chasing all the other plot animals away. Once you give them attention, they suddenly decide to go extinct.

Plot Bunnies, Plot Chickens, Etc.

As a lot of people aren’t familiar with plot creatures, I thought I’d shed some light on the members of the mental menagerie…

The Plot Bunny - Story ideas that come bounding in and start multiplying.

The Plot Chicken - They squawk, flap around, and shit everywhere, but when you actually need to do something with them, they scatter.

The Plot Sloth - Takes its sweet goddamned time turning into something useful.

The Plot Mule - When you mash two plots together and get something cool, but you can’t get a sequel out of it to save your life.

The Plot Cat - Lazy little bastards who take up your headspace, scare away all the other plot bunnies, but won’t actually do anything except lay there.

The Plottweiler - Barks loudly and viciously so you can’t ignore it, distracts you from everything else you want to write, but leaves you too paralyzed with fear to actually put words down.

The Plot Squirrel - Cute, distracting, full of nuts, and just TRY to keep up with that train of thought.

The Plot Bedbug - Shows up during the night, chews on you so you can’t sleep, and disappears in the daylight.

The Plot Tick - Burrows in, bleeds you dry, and leaves you with the creepy-crawlies. Mostly preys on horror writers.

The Plotroach - Totally unappealing, but so tenacious they’ll survive anything until you finally give up and write them.

What Plot Creatures have you encountered?

[palaeopedia]

The swimmer lizard, Plotosaurus (1951)

Phylum : Chordata Class : Reptilia Order : Squamata Suborder : Scleroglossa Family : Mosasauridae Subfamily : Mosasaurinae Genus : Plotosaurus Species : P. bennisoni, P. tuckeri

Late Cretaceous (70 - 65 Ma)

12 m long and 5 000 kg (size)

Oceans worldwide (map)

In‭ ‬1937‭ ‬a fossil collector named Allan Bennison discovered mosasaur fossils in California’s Mount Diablo Range.‭ ‬These fossils were first described by Charles Camp in‭ ‬1942‭ ‬and published as Kolposaurus‭; ‬however this name is actually preoccupied as a synonym for Nothosaurus,‭ ‬hence the naming revision to Plotosaurus in‭ ‬1951.

The original fossils were of more than one individual,‭ ‬with one being quite a bit larger than the other.‭ ‬Whereas the type species P.‭ ‬bennisoni reached nine meters,‭ ‬the second species‭ ‬,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬tuckeri reached thirteen meters long,‭ ‬just a bit short of giants such as Tylosaurus and Mosasaurus,‭ ‬though possibly equal to Hainosaurus.‭ ‬However the future of P.‭ ‬tuckeri is in doubt since a‭ ‬2008‭ ‬review by Lindgren,‭ ‬Caldwell and Jagt concluded that P.‭ ‬tuckeri should actually be treated as a synonym to the type species P.‭ ‬bennisoni.‭

Plotosaurus represents a mosasaur that is significantly better adapted to swimming than most of its known relatives.‭ ‬The body is more streamlined with a fairly rigid forward body that would have stabilised the swimming pattern of Plotosaurus reducing turbulence and subsequent drag.‭ ‬Skin impressions for Plotosaurus have also revealed specially adapted scales that have been interpreted as being analogous to those of sharks in that they were capable of producing vortices as they moved through the water to reduce drag even further.

The limbs shaped into flippers were also streamlined to help reduce drag through the water,‭ ‬and in addition to this the skull of Plotosaurus was very long but also slender.‭ ‬Other interesting features of the skull are the openings for large eyes,‭ ‬and when you combine these with the rigidity of the forward body,‭ ‬you get a marine reptile that is possibly analogous to the opthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs that lived earlier.‭ ‬These fast swimming and deep diving ichthyosaurs do not seem to be present at the end of the Cretaceous,‭ ‬so this quite a tantalising idea that mosasaurs like Plotosaurus were developing to fill an ecological void left by them.‭ ‬Another feature of Plotosaurus are the large nasal openings that facilitated a faster transfer of fresh air into the lungs.‭ ‬This could be either to cope with a faster and hence more energetic style of swimming,‭ ‬or deep diving trips beneath the surface where Plotosaurus would have to of held its breath but replace the oxygen depleted air in its lungs quickly when back on the surface.

[creature-feature-blog]

plotosaurus - "swimmer lizard."

this gorgeous creature was 33 feet long, or long enough to frighten you from a sizable distance. i honestly can't find much else on him but that he is fusiform and capable of being the fastest of all mosasaurs. speedboats will not save you.

[ancientmarinereptiles]

Eremiasaurus heterodontus

Photo by: Leblanc et al., 2012

Name: Eremiasaurus heterodontus‭

Name Meaning: Desert lizard

First Described: 2012

Described By: Leblanc et al.,

Classification: Chordata, Tetrapoda, Reptilia, Squamata,‭ Mosasauridae, ‬Mosasaurinae

Eremiasaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous, specifically the Maastrichtian stage and has been found in Morocco of North Africa. The etymology of its name is fitting but also ironic at the same time, as it means ‘desert lizard’ in reference to the place of its discovery in present day Morocco. Anyways, various specimens that were found of Eremiasaurus had different type of teeth, which suggests that it may have went with the flow of eating whatever was available or around; it didn’t specialize on feeding on any particular kind of prey. Interestingly, Eremiasaurus has a lot of hip vertebrae (pygals) but fewer than Plotosaurus, a derived mosasaur who we will cover later down the road.

Sources:

http://www.paleofile.com/Lizards/Eremiasaurus.asp

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/e/eremiasaurus.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremiasaurus

[autoboty]

The Plotosaurus - Is super heavy, roars loudly, and stomps around, chasing all the other plot animals away. Once you give them attention, they suddenly decide to go extinct and never show up.

Plot Bunnies, Plot Chickens, Etc.

As a lot of people aren’t familiar with plot creatures, I thought I’d shed some light on the members of the mental menagerie…

The Plot Bunny - Story ideas that come bounding in and start multiplying.

The Plot Chicken - They squawk, flap around, and shit everywhere, but when you actually need to do something with them, they scatter.

The Plot Sloth - Takes its sweet goddamned time turning into something useful.

The Plot Mule - When you mash two plots together and get something cool, but you can’t get a sequel out of it to save your life.

The Plot Cat - Lazy little bastards who take up your headspace, scare away all the other plot bunnies, but won’t actually do anything except lay there.

The Plottweiler - Barks loudly and viciously so you can’t ignore it, distracts you from everything else you want to write, but leaves you too paralyzed with fear to actually put words down.

The Plot Squirrel - Cute, distracting, full of nuts, and just TRY to keep up with that train of thought.

The Plot Bedbug - Shows up during the night, chews on you so you can’t sleep, and disappears in the daylight.

The Plot Tick - Burrows in, bleeds you dry, and leaves you with the creepy-crawlies. Mostly preys on horror writers.

The Plotroach - Totally unappealing, but so tenacious they’ll survive anything until you finally give up and write them.

What Plot Creatures have you encountered?