Ted86 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Not really a scientifically relevant topic but what's your opinion/educated guess about this, regardless of the limited data in some cases ? Carcharocles megalodon, Livyatan melvillei and some kinds of poorly known very large pliosaurs are probably the top contenders... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Look into Megaloneusaurus rex. Huge. (I think I spelled it correctly). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted86 Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) Look into Megaloneusaurus rex. Huge. (I think I spelled it correctly). You have some data about ? The only mention I've found is 25-30 feet, which is big but not as big as the other guys listed above AFAIK. Edited February 22, 2015 by Ted86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Not much is known of it, but I have seen it compared to liopleurodon, which is the British really big pliosaur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 (edited) Not much is known of it, but I have seen it compared to liopleurodon, which is the British really big pliosaur.Well, Liopleurodon was a big marine predator from the Middle Jurassic but not that big either.The largest skull found so far is 1.5 m in maximum length. Kronosaurus and some Pliosaurus (funkei and kevani for example) had a skull in excess of 2 m, possibly up to 2.5 m. Their body size estimated between 10 and 13 m. AFAIK, Megalneusaurus is not larger than these relatives. At up to 18 m, the Miocene-Pliocene Carcharocles megalodon was larger than any known pliosaur. I don't think there is any carnivore in the fossil records bigger than this thing. Edited March 6, 2015 by Gabe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 (edited) There is a Jurassic ichthyosaur from northern Canada whose skull alone is 5 meters long. This thing is huge. I don't know if it has been published yet but the specimen is at the Tyrell Museum. I will try to find out more. Edited March 6, 2015 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 18 meters is a highly speculative estimate for C. megalodon. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Shastasaurus Sikanniensis "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I think the skull of S. sikanniensis is rather 3 m long, toothless. A Triassic beaked whale. It was also quite gracile for its size of 21 m, its maximum body depth was just about 2 m. I'd expect a 18 m Megalodon being heavier. Auspex, most size estimates for extinct taxa are more or less speculative, but 18 m for Megalodon appears to reflect the very latest estimates (Pimiento 2013) and a global consensus. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111086 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verydeadthings Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 What about the sperm whale? They get over 20 meters long. There's a fossil sperm whale skull about 3m long from the Miocene of Peru with a great name, Leviathan melvillei, and the nature paper is available for free online (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7302/full/nature09067.html).%C2'> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verydeadthings Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Sorry, here's the link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7302/full/nature09067.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) The Canadian ichthyosaur is Shonisarus sikanniensis, which some folks say is Shastasaurus sikanniensis. 21meters. Pretty darn big. Edited March 7, 2015 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 The best estimate published thus far is by Mike Gottfried and others (1996) who, IIRC, reported a length of 16 meters. Pimiento and Clement (2014) didn't test prior body size estimates, they stated 18 m without evidence. 1. The giant Shonisaurus was apparently toothless - which suggests a feeding ecology other than macrophagy. 2. Technically speaking, fin whales (27 meters) feed on schooling fish and are thus predators, albeit still using filter feeding. If Shonisaurus is included, fin whales have it beat. 3. If neither is included, Livyatan melvillei and Carcharocles megalodon have everything else beat by a long shot (in terms of body size/size of teeth/size of feeding apparatus), and it's a toss-up between the two depending upon which metric you use. 4. This highlights why marine mammals are totally awesome. But, it's admittedly non-academic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 (edited) What about the sperm whale? They get over 20 meters long. There's a fossil sperm whale skull about 3m long from the Miocene of Peru with a great name, Leviathan melvillei, and the nature paper is available for free online (Published size estimate for Livyatan melvillei is from 13 to 17 m, published size estimate for Megalodon is up to 18 m.It is therefore likely (but not demonstrated beyond all doubt) that Megalodon was larger than Livyatan. Here's the original source for Pimiento's 18 m figure : http://stri.si.edu/sites/publications/PDFs/STRI-W_Pimiento_et_al_2013_Sharks_and_Rays_from_Gatun.pdf Regarding S. sikanniensis, given that it was lightly built for its length, I don't expect it being as heavy as the slightly shorter Megatooth shark and Livyatan. Edited March 7, 2015 by Gabe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 So, how do we define macrophage? Playing devil's advocate here, if shonisaurus is the biggest thing in the ocean, it may not need teeth to inhale a mouthful of belemnites and squids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 S. sikanniensis was the equivalent of a large beaked whale or a toothless but I don't think it would have been that heavy compared to a modern sperm whale. A macrophagous carnivore preys on animals that need to be dispatched before consumed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 ...A macrophagous carnivore preys on animals that need to be dispatched before consumed. Now there's a nice nugget! I confess that I care not a whit which prehistoric creature is anointed as 'biggest' (they are what they are, and all are fascinating), but all discussions here seem to bear unexpected and worthwhile fruit "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted86 Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) The best estimate published thus far is by Mike Gottfried and others (1996) who, IIRC, reported a length of 16 meters. Pimiento and Clement (2014) didn't test prior body size estimates, they stated 18 m without evidence. 1. The giant Shonisaurus was apparently toothless - which suggests a feeding ecology other than macrophagy. 2. Technically speaking, fin whales (27 meters) feed on schooling fish and are thus predators, albeit still using filter feeding. If Shonisaurus is included, fin whales have it beat. 3. If neither is included, Livyatan melvillei and Carcharocles megalodon have everything else beat by a long shot (in terms of body size/size of teeth/size of feeding apparatus), and it's a toss-up between the two depending upon which metric you use. 4. This highlights why marine mammals are totally awesome. But, it's admittedly non-academic. Aren't there some Mesozoic marine reptiles at least matching in size ? Thinking about Pliosaurus, Liopleurodon and Mosasaurus...And the Eocene Basilosaurus archaeocete ? Edited March 9, 2015 by Ted86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Aren't there some Mesozoic marine reptiles at least matching in size ? Thinking about Pliosaurus, Liopleurodon and Mosasaurus...And the Eocene Basilosaurus archaeocete ? IIRC, all these taxa are smaller in length (Pliosaurus, Liopleurodon) or quite more slender (Mosasaurus, Basilosaurus) than the Miocene giant otodontid and physeteroid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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