Megacephalosaurus was a Late Cretaceous pliosaur. It was discovered in the Carlile Shale Formation in Kansas. Megacephalosaurus actually represents one of the last members of the pliosauridae family.
Morturneria lived during the Late Cretaceous, and was discovered in Antarctica. What’s really fascinating is that Morturneria was a filter feeding plesiosaur, using its mouth as a sieve to indulge in marine invertebrates. The filter feeding strategy may have evolved in order to avoid direct competition with its other marine reptiles. Morturneria was once thought to be a juvenile Aristonectes, but paleontologists saw differences in non-ontological characteristics in Morturneria, thus distinguished it from Aristonectes. Fun fact, Morturneria was originally named Turneria, but the name was already taken by a genus of ant.
We have another marine reptile from the Paja Formation in Colombia. Muiscasaurus was a Late Cretaceous ophthalmosaurid, we have uncovered part of its skull, some ribs, and vertebrae. Muiscasaurus had four nostrils, two openings on each side of its snout.Muiscasaurusprobably consumed prey that were soft and small.
Opallionectes was a plesiosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous of what is now known as Australia. Data suggests that this plesiosaur may have dwelled in very cold waters. Opallionectes may have had blubber as an adaptation for this freezing type of environment. Paleontologists actually found Opallionectes in an opal mine down in South Australia.
