Martill, D. M. and Hudson, J. D. (eds.). 1991. Fossils of the Oxford Clay. The Palaeontological Association. Dorset Press, Dorset, 286 pp. Since then, some corrections have been made to the Liopleurodon’s actual shape; you can find a reconstructed skeleton at the Museum of Paleontology in Tubingen, Germany.

Liopleurodon were aquatic reptiles that constituted a significant part of the ecosystem about 160 million years ago. Knutsen, E. M. 2012. A taxonomic revision of the genus Pliosaurus (Owen, 1841a) Owen, 1841b. Norwegian Journal of Geology, 92, 259–276. Halstead, L. B. 1971. Liopleurodon rossicus (Novozhilov) – a pliosaur from the Lower Volgian of the Moscow Basin. Palaeontology, 14, 566-571. While paleontologists had concluded that the Liopleurodon had a maximum length of 25 feet, the series portrayed the animal as long as 80 feet.Based on findings, researchers deduced that these reptiles did not lay eggs but gave birth to their young ones live. Furthermore, in 1999, more people learned about this extinct animal when it was featured in the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs. Likely evolving from archosaurians and turtles, these reptiles developed aquatic features that made them thrive in the ocean. Halstead knew the validity of ‘ Stretosaurus‘ was questionable much earlier than his formal declaration and reallocation of the genus to Liopleurodon in 1989. As early as 1977, in collaboration with Robinson, he had re-evaluated the diagnostic scapula of ‘ Stretosaurus‘ as an ilium (Robinson, 1977), so the genus ‘Stretosaurus’was already called into question by then. The last publication I can find where Tarlo/Halstead refers to ‘Stretosaurus’ as a valid taxon is in 1971 (Halstead, 1971). So, perhaps he (and Robinson?) came to the conclusion that ‘ Stretosaurus‘ was Liopleurodon sometime between 1971 and 1977. If so, and if the reconstruction was partly based on the ‘Stretham Pliosaur’, this could explain Robinson (1975) attributing the reconstruction to Liopleurodon.

Over the years, people have tried to draw or design the Liopleurodon differently, some as a two-dimensional image, others as three-dimensional toys and sculptures. Conclusion While some reptiles during the Jurassic period laid eggs, Liopleurodon was one of the few species that gave birth to their young ones alive.They also believe that they weighed 2200-3700 pounds, sometimes more than that, making this species one of the world’s biggest and strongest predatory animals. This name was assigned to this creature primarily because of the shape of the teeth. Another fossil was found in another area in France, which was named L. grossouvrei. This made them conclude that the Liopleurodon had an average length of 16-23 feet. Gage Beasley Prehistoric’s Liopleurodon Size Comparison Chart