Simolestes
Sign in to saveSimolestes (meaning "snub-nosed thief") is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, NHMUK PV R 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to Simolestes vorax, dating back to the Callovian of the Oxford Clay formation, England. The genus might also be known from the Tithonian Bhuj Formation of India (S. indicus), but the referral of this species to Simolestes is dubious. S. keileni from France was moved to the new genus Lorrainosaurus in 2023.
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Plesiosauria
- Image
- Simolestes vorax.jpg
- Length
- 6
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Simolestes
- taxon name
- Simolestes
- taxon rank
- genus
- start time
- 170000000-
- end time
- 145000000-
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Description
- Palaeobiology
- Feeding habits
- Classification
- References
Simolestes (meaning "snub-nosed thief") is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, NHMUK PV R 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to Simolestes vorax, dating back to the Callovian of the Oxford Clay formation, England. The genus might also be known from the Tithonian Bhuj Formation of India (S. indicus), but the referral of this species to Simolestes is dubious. S. keileni from France was moved to the new genus Lorrainosaurus in 2023.
==Description== thumb|left|Scale diagram, presenting the largest specimens of Simolestes and Lorrainosaurus (here as a species of the former genus) Simolestes possessed a short, high, and wide skull which was built to resist torsional forces when hunting.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Simolestes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.