|
|
Length: |
10 - 15 metres |
|
Range: |
Fossils have been found in France, England,
Germany and other parts of Europe |
|
Weight: |
Over 5 tonnes |
|
Feeding: |
fish and aquatic reptiles |
|
Period: |
Jurassic |
|
248 |
227 |
206 |
180 |
154 |
144 |
127 |
89 |
65 |
Lipleurodon was not a
dinosaur, it was a type of swimming reptile called a Pliosaur that
lived during the late Jurassic period about 160 million years ago.
Pliosaurs were short necked versions of Plesiosaurs. Lipleurodon was
a carnivore that ate Ichthyosaurs, fish and other plesiosaurs and it
is considered by many to be the largest predator to have ever
existed on Earth. |

|
 |
Above - Showing off
its streamlined body; Lipleurodon cruises effortlessly across the sea bed. |
|
Left -
The business end; rows of long conical teeth set in jaws that were
big enough and strong enough to literally slice its prey in half with a
single bite. |
 |
| Agile and fast;
Pliosaurs like Lipleurodon were the top predators of their
time. |
|