Genus
Valid Extinct

Megalneusaurus

Knight 1898

Megalneusaurus is a genus of large pliosaurid plesiosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America. It was provisionally described as a species of Cimoliosaurus by the geologist Wilbur Clinton Knight in 1895, before being given its own genus by the same author in 1898. The only known species is M. rex, known from several specimens mainly found in the Redwater Shale Member, within the Sundance Formation, Wyoming, United States. A specimen discovered in the Naknek Formation in southern Alaska was referred to the genus in 1994. The loss of most fossils has led some paleontologists to consider the genus as dubious, although its validity is maintained by many authors. The binominal name literally means "king of large swimming lizards", due to the size of the first specimen.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Sauroptérygiens
Carnivore aquatic, depth=surface Marine
Megalneusaurus
click to enlarge
Megalneusaurus rex holotype fossils. © W. C. Knight · Public domain · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Sauropterygia Suborder
Plesiosauria Order
Megalneusaurus Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
1
Geological formations
Sundance
1
Temporal distribution
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Megalneusaurus rex 162 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
W. C. Knight. 1898. Some new Jurassic vertebrates from Wyoming. The American Journal of Science, series 4 5:378-381 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
W. R. Wahl, M. Ross, and J. A. Massare. 2007. Rediscovery of Wilbur Knight's Megalneustes rex site: new material from an old pit. Paludicola 6(2):94-104