Fossils indicate Jurassic Pliosaur was a giant sea dinosaur

A new study, written about by Patrick Pester on LiveScience.com, reveals the existence of a Jurassic sea monster called Lorrainosaurus, belonging to the pliosaur group known as Thalassophonea. This creature, with a 4.3-foot-long jaw, represented the oldest “megapredatory” pliosaur on record, ruling the Mesozoic seas for 80 million years. The fossils were originally discovered in 1983 in northeastern France but were recently re-analyzed, leading to the creation of the new genus Lorrainosaurus. This discovery pushes back the emergence of giant predatory pliosaurs by around 5 million years, shedding light on the early evolution of these sea predators.