The Mesozoic Park: Marine Reptiles Marine reptiles are classified as reptiles that are adapted to an

The Mesozoic Park: Marine ReptilesMarine reptiles are classified as reptiles that are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. It sounds fairly self-explanatory, but when it comes to species in the Mesozoic era, many people tend to mistake marine reptiles for dinosaurs. Dinosaurs may be a branch of reptiles, but the “dinosauria” clade is characterized by a terrestrial lifestyle, limbs allowing for biped or quadruped locomotion, and a diapsid skull. The lack of terrestrial limbs and terrestrial lifestyles what differentiates our marine reptiles from the dinosaurs. This logic is also applied to flying reptiles, which are also not considered dinosaurs.In the Mesozoic age, the 10 most deadly marine reptiles to have conquered the waters (in no particular order) are considered to be:Koronosarus (pictured) – Mid-Cretaceous (110 MYA), 10m (33ft) long, 6 tonnes, ate everything it sawLiopleurodon – Late Jurassic (165-150 MYA), 12m (40ft) long, 22 tonnesDakosaurus (nicknamed “Godzilla”) - Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous (150-130 MYA), 4.5m (15ft) long, 1 tonneShinosaurus - Late Triassic (215 MYA), 15m (50 ft) long, 27 tonnesArchelon (giant turtle) – Late Cretaceous (75-65 MYA), 4m (12 ft) long, 2 tonnesCryptoclidus – Late Jurassic (165-150 MYA), 7m (25ft) long, 7 tonnesClidastes (small species of mosasaur)- Late Cretaceous (75-65 MYA), 3m (10ft) long, 43kg (100lbs)Plotosaurus - Late Cretaceous (70-65 MYA), 12m (40ft) long, 4 tonnesNothosaurus – Triassic (250-210 MYA), 3m (10ft) long, 78kg (175lbs)Pachyrhachis (really sccary, prehistoric snake) – Early Cretaceous (130-120 MYA), 1m (3ft) long, 1kg~RosieImage and references: http://abt.cm/1RRHCn4http://abt.cm/1cDgqIMhttp://bit.ly/1GemJ1mThis article is a part of our “Mesozoic Park” series that is leading up to the release of Jurassic World. For more information, please see our introductory post at: http://on.fb.me/1ELwHW5 or if you already know about the series but missed a few articles you can find links to the first 10 posts at “Update #1,” here: http://on.fb.me/1ED1tOH , posts 11-20 at Update #2, here: http://on.fb.me/1AsdbPx , and Update #3, here: http://on.fb.me/1FyJt8v -- source link

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