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PLIOSAURUS(pronounced PLY-oh-SAWR-us)

Pliosaurus (meaning "greater lizard") was a huge, short-necked plesiosaur that lived during the middle to late Jurassic period. This carnivore was a flippered marine reptile (a pliosaur and a plesiosaur, but not a dinosaur) with many sharp teeth in large, powerful jaws resembling those of a crocodile; the teeth were three-sided in cross-section. It was 33-40 ft (10-12 m) long and the skull was 5-6.6 ft (1.5-2 m) long. It may have eaten ichthyosaurs and other plesiosaurs. Fossils have been found in England and South America. Pliosaurus was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841; the type species is Pliosaurus brachydeirus. It may be the same as Liopleurodon.