Lorrainosaurus

Lorrainosaurus is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid from the Middle Jurassic of Lorraine, France.

==Discovery and naming== The holotype specimen (MNHNL BU159) was discovered during a temporary excavation for a roadway upgrade between the Montois-la-Montagne and Sainte-Marie-aux-Chênes communes in Lorraine, France. The remains consisted of a near-complete mandible, coracoid shoulder bone, a tooth, and fragments of the upper jaw and front limb. They specifically originated from a section of the Marnes de Gravelotte, a marl deposit dated to the Bajocian stage of the Middle Jurassic around 168 mya. The specimen first came under the study of paleontologist Pascal Godefroit in 1994, who described it as a new species of Simolestes and assigned the name S. keileni.