A partial skeleton of Lorrainosaurus keileni was excavated in 1983 in the Marnes de Gravelotte of Lorraine in northeastern France.
- In the new research, researchers analyzed the fossils and identified them as a new pliosaur genus: Lorrainosaurus.
- This giant reptile probably reached over 6 m from snout to tail, and lived during the early Middle Jurassic epoch, 170 million years ago.
- Pliosaurs were a type of short-necked plesiosaur: marine reptiles built for speed compared to their long-necked cousins.
- Pliosaurs were members of a group of ocean-dwelling reptiles .
- Also known as pliosauroids, these creatures were not dinosaurs, but distant cousins of modern turtles.
- They lived between 220 million years ago (Triassic period) and 70 million years ago (Cretaceous period) and were mostly found in the prehistoric seas that covered modern-day Europe.
