Not to be confused with Macrocephalosaurus, Megalocephalus, or Megalosaurus.
Megacephalosaurus
Temporal range: Turonian, 93.9–92.9 Ma
PreꞒ
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S
D
C
P
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Pg
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[1][2][3]
View from several angles of FHSM VP-321, the holotype specimen of M. eulerti.
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Superorder:
†Sauropterygia
Order:
†Plesiosauria
Family:
†Pliosauridae
Subfamily:
†Brachaucheninae
Genus:
†Megacephalosaurus Schumacher et al., 2013
Type species
†Megacephalosaurus eulerti
Schumacher et al., 2013
Synonyms[4]
Brachauchenius eulerti Benson et al., 2013
Megacephalosaurus (/ˌmɛɡəˈsɛfəloʊˈsɔːrəs/; "great-headed lizard") is an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaur that inhabited the Western Interior Seaway of North America about 94 to 93 million years ago during the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous, containing the single species M. eulerti. It is named after its large head, which is the largest of any plesiosaur in the continent and measures up to 1.75 meters (5.7 ft) in length. Megacephalosaurus was one of the largest marine reptiles of its time with an estimated length of 6–9 meters (20–30 ft). Its long snout and consistently sized teeth suggest that it preferred a diet of smaller-sized prey.
Remains representing the pliosaur include two fossil skulls, three ribs, and a neural arch. The fossils have been found in deposits of the Carlile Shale and Greenhorn Limestone in Kansas and elsewhere in the midwestern United States. First discovered in 1950, they were originally thought to have been giant fossils of a closely related pliosaur known as Brachauchenius lucasi. But by 2013, paleontologists understood that such fossils belonged to a distinct animal. Megacephalosaurus was among the last known pliosaurs.
^Ogg, J. G.; Hinnov, L. A. (2012), "Cretaceous", in Gradstein, F. M.; Ogg, J. G.; Schmitz, M. D.; Ogg, G. M. (eds.), The Geologic Time Scale, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 793–853, doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-59425-9.00027-5, ISBN 978-0-444-59425-9, S2CID 127523816
^Schumacher, B. A.; Carpenter, K.; Everhart, M. J. (2013). "A new Cretaceous Pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 613–628. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.722576. S2CID 130165209.
^Schumacher, B. A. (2008). "On the skull of a pliosaur (Plesiosauria; Pliosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Early Turonian) of the North American Western Interior". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 111 (3 & 4): 203–218. doi:10.1660/0022-8443-111.3.203. S2CID 86751839.
^Cite error: The named reference Madziaetal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
belonged to a distinct animal. Megacephalosaurus was among the last known pliosaurs. The first specimen of Megacephalosaurus was discovered by two teenage...
has 4 caniniform teeth. Like its close relatives Brachauchenius and Megacephalosaurus, the mandibular symphysis of Kronosaurus contains up to 6 pairs of...
specimens. This specimen is now reassigned to its own genus and species, Megacephalosaurus eulerti. In 2013, Benson et al. referred a partial cranium from the...
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