Simolestes

Simolestes
Temporal range: MiddleLate Jurassic
Diagram of the skull of S. vorax
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Sauropterygia
Order: Plesiosauria
Suborder: Pliosauroidea
Family: Pliosauridae
Clade: Thalassophonea
Genus: Simolestes
Andrews, 1909
Species
  • S. vorax (type)
  • S. indicus (?)
Synonyms

Simolestes (meaning "snub-nosed thief") is an extinct pliosaurid genus that lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic. The type specimen, NHMUK PV R 3319 is an almost complete but crushed skeleton diagnostic to Simolestes vorax, dating back to the Callovian of the Oxford Clay formation, England. The genus might also be known from the Tithonian Bhuj Formation of India (S. indicus), but the referral of this species to Simolestes is dubious. S. keileni from France was moved to the new genus Lorrainosaurus in 2023.