Pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus and Marine Reptile and Pterosaur coloring pages

Pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus

 PERSONAL NOTE:  Today was supposed to be the day we left for England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.  We were supposed to be starting our tour with Brigham Young University.  The virus outbreak got our trip canceled.  I sat around the house today feeling sorry for myself.  Then, this evening, after eating one of my wife's homemade cinnamon rolls I felt a bit better.  I decided to draw one of the Marine Reptiles we would have seen in England.  OK, we would have seen the fossil of this extinct animal in the British Museum.   In fact, we were supposed to spend a few days of fossil hunting in Lyme Regis, on the south coast of England.  Drawing the picture, (and my wife's cinnamon rolls) were good therapy for my bad mood.  My art teacher calls it art therapy.  I draw a lot to distract myself from the pain in my throat.  I have a T-tube stent and surgical mesh in my trachea that cuts me nearly constantly.  There are now around 900 drawings on this blog.  I drew them to be productive and still contribute to the world

Photo of  the Pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus at the British Museum

(The cute geologist in the photo who is serving as a size reference is my wife.

The plaque behind her has a picture of Mary Anning.)

Now, about this animal:  Pliosaurs are a TYPE of Plesiosaur.  One way to think of it is Pliosaurs are short-necked Plesiosaurs.  This new drawing, at the top of the page, is a fairly large Pliosaur called Rhomaleosaurus.  This animal was NOT a swimming dinosaur, although it lived in the Jurassic Period when dinos ruled the land.  But Marine Reptiles ruled the seas in the Jurassic Period.   So Rhomaleosaurus was a marine reptile.  It had to surface to breathe air.  It was NOT a fish either.  It did NOT have gills.  In this drawing it is at the surface to breathe. 

There are four different species of Rhomaleosaurus.  The one pictured below is Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni.  It was alive around 180 million years ago.  It about 23 feet or 7 meters long.  It fed on Ammonites (seen in the drawing), fish, and other marine reptiles like the long-necked Plesiosaurs
and Ichthyosaurs.  The flying reptile is also not a dinosaur.  It is a Rhamphorhynchus.  It was a common Pterosaur of the Jurassic Period.

I have written about Mary Anning before.  She lived in Lyme Regis and was one of the greatest fossilists or paleontologists of all time.  She had no formal education but she KNEW marine reptiles.  She also found the first Pterosaur that was found in England.

I added some older drawings below of some marine reptiles and pterosaurs.  To get to printable versions of the drawings click on one of two buttons up top. Click on either "All Printables" or click on "Paleontology."  Then scroll down to the bottom for this new drawing.  Older drawings will be further up the lists.

Plesiosaurus surfacing

(Notice the long neck.)

Ichthyosaurus anningae hunting an Ammonite

(found by and named after Mary Anning)

Mary Anning with Dimorphodon

Mary Anning and 3 species she discovered

Liopleurodon in Shallow Sea

Mosasaur Mother and Calf
(This type of marine reptile was from the Cretaceous Period.
It had a short neck, but it was not a Pliosaur... it was a Mosasaur.)

Elasmosaurus Mother and Calf
(This was another type of Plesiosaur.)

Tylosaurus with Ammonites
(This is the largest known Mosasaur.)

Tylosaurus with Tail Fluke

(There is some evidence that some Mosasaur may have had a tail fluke.)

Tylosaururs with Large Scales

Pteranodon Chick on a Ledge

Quetzalcoatlus

(probably the biggest known Pterosaur)

Pteranodon evading Tylosaurus

Plesiosaurus macrocephalus hunting a fish

This is one of my wife's Cinnamon rolls

(It is made with fresh ground whole wheat flour, and sweetened with honey.)

A final word, if you got this far... When you are feeling down, sometimes it helps to serve others.  I drew this new drawing and posted it. . . along with the information.   Doing all that helped me.  

But eating a yummy cinnamon roll helped too!