| Simolestes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Diagram of the skull ofS. vorax | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | †Sauropterygia |
| Order: | †Plesiosauria |
| Family: | †Pliosauridae |
| Clade: | †Thalassophonea |
| Genus: | †Simolestes Andrews, 1909 |
| Species[1] | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Simolestes (meaning "snub-nosed thief") is an extinctpliosauridgenus that lived in the Middle to LateJurassic.[2] The type specimen,NHMUK PV R 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic toSimolestes vorax, dating back to theCallovian of theOxford Clay formation, England. The genus might also be known from theTithonianBhuj Formation of India (S.indicus),[3] however the referral of this species toSimolestes is dubious.[4]S.keileni from France was moved to the new genusLorrainosaurus in 2023.[5]
Simolestes possessed a short, high, and wide skull which was built to resisttorsional forces when hunting.
The largest specimens ofS. vorax reached approximately 4.6 metres (15 ft) in length, if a head to body ratio similar toLiopleurodon is applied.[4][6]
Like most pliosaurs,Simolestes possessedsalt secreting glands, which would have enabled the animal to maintain salt balance and drink seawater.[4] Recent studies onplesiosaur locomotion indicate thatSimolestes, like other plesiosaurs, possessed a unique bauplan for movement, which differs from modern organisms in similar niches.[7]
Simolestes's exact feeding habits are unclear. The current consensus, however, is that the genus was primarily teuthophagous, consumingbelemnites, softteuthoids andammonites. It is possibleSimolestes was also ecologically separated from other contemporary pliosaur genera such asLiopleurodon andPachycostasaurus by hunting in deeper waters or at night, as modern cephalopods exhibit diurnal feeding cycles, spending daylight in deeper, safer waters, and rising at night to feed.[4]
Thecladogram below follows a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson, and reduced to genera only.[8]
| Pliosauroidea |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.png)