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Megalneusaurus

By , About.com Guide

megalneusaurus

Megalneusaurus (Dmitri Bogdanov)

Name:

Megalneusaurus (Greek for "great swimming lizard"); pronounced MEG-al-noy-SORE-us

Habitat:

Shores of North America

Historical Period:

Late Jurassic (155-150 million years ago)

Size and Weight:

About 40 feet long and 20 or 30 tons

Diet:

Fish, squids and aquatic reptiles

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Large size; large head with numerous teeth

About Megalneusaurus:

Paleontologists don't know a whole lot about Megalneusaurus; this impressively named pliosaur (its moniker means "great swimming lizard") has been reconstructed from scattered fossils discovered in Wyoming. How did a giant marine reptile wind up in the American midwest, you ask? Well, 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period, a good part of the North American continent was covered with a shallow body of water called the "Sundance Sea."

Judging from the size of Megalneusaurus' bones, it appears that this pliosaur may have given Liopleurodon a run for its money, attaining lengths of 40 feet or so and weights in the neighborhood of 20 or 30 tons. However, this marine reptile would still have been no match for Megalodon, a prehistoric shark that lived tens of millions of years later and weighed as much as 50 tons.

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