Pliosaurs are an extinct group of Mesozoic marine reptiles, known largely from Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits of North America and Europe. Graduate student R. T. Zanon proposes an evolutionary synthesis of the group based on study of museum specimens. Analysis of morphological data will give a new and consistent insight into evolutionary relationships within the group, and with other extinct and living amniotes. The proposed project has implications beyond the immediate taxonomic group. The research will bring together an ambitious data set from time periods and geographic regions too long separated by scientific specialization. A clearer picture of reptile evolution will appear, opening the way for new understanding of adaptations to the marine realm.
