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PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY PAPERS, V. 8, 2002TABLE 2—Cenozoic marine vertebrate predator guilds.Marine Reptile Geologic Range;BiogeographyFeeding Realm Feeding Type Putative Prey Gastric Evidence orother evidenceReferencePlacodontia Middle Triassic(chiefly); late Lower toUpper Triassic ofEurope, North Africa,Middle East; distributionrestricted to westernperiphery of TriassicTethys (Lucas, 1997)Benthic Durophagous (basal andderived cyamodontoids) tosuction and sieving(Henodus ); crush guild ofMassare, 1997Hard-shelled sessile to nonsessileinvertebrates(cyamodonts); soft shelledinvertebrates to plants(Henodus )Pachypleurosaurs Middle Triassic Pelagic Suction feeding Soft-shelled invertebrates,cephalopodsNothosaurs Middle Triassic(chiefly); late EarlyTriassic to UpperTriassic; endemic toEuropean/Asiancontinent (Lucas, 1997)Pelagic Suction feeding to fish-trapdentitionSimosaurus : hard-shelledinvertebrates; all others fish, softshelledinvertebratesJuventile placodont inLariosaurus stomachRiepple, 2002;Massare, 1997Riepple, 2002Riepple, 2002;Sanders, 1989;Tschanz, 1989Pistosauroidea Middle Triassic Pelagic Puncturing dentition Soft-shelled invertebrates; fish Riepple, 2002Plesiosaurs Late Triassic (Rhaetian)to Late Cretaceous;global distribution in theJurassic andCretaceous, but had highendemism (Lucas, 1997)Pelagic Needle-shaped teeth; pierceI and II guilds of Massare,1997Soft-shelled invertebrates orfleshy prey; some may havestrained small prey from water(Cryptoclidus )Jurassic forms withcephalopod hooklets;gastroliths; ?regurgitatesthought to be fromplesiosaurs with ammonoidlarvae and shells ofBaculitesRiepple, 2002;Massare, 1997;Pollard, 1968;Martill et al.,1994; Wetzel,1960Pliosaurs Cretaceous Pelagic Pursuit predators; Cut andPierce II guild of Massare,1997; shake feedingLarge, fleshy prey: other reptiles,fish, and cephalopodsCephalopod hooklets inPeloneustesRiepple, 2002;Massare, 1997;Martill et al.,1994Elasmosaurs Cretaceous Pelagic Robust teeth, pierce I and IIguild of Massare, 1997Riepple, 2002;Massare, 1997Ichthyosaurs Early Triassic to lateCenomanian (LateCretaceous); achievedglobal distribution by theMiddle Triassic (Lucas,1997)Nearshore (Triassic)to Pelagic (Jurassicto Cretaceous); somewere deep divers to adepth of 600 m to themesopelagic layer ofthe ocean(Ophthalmosaurus );Shonisaurus (UpperTriassic, Nevada)was outer shelf orbasinal in distribution(Hogler, 1992)Cut, pierce, smash, crunch,and crush guilds of Massare(1987, 1997)Triassic icthyosaurs hadheterodont dentitionsuggesting ambush,generalist predators innearshore habitats; inJurassic, mostly homodontdentition suggesting pelagicpursuit predators thatspecialize in a certain typeof prey (Massare andCallaway, 1990)Large, fleshy prey; soft prey; softprey with internal hardparts; preywith bony scales or hard, thinexoskeleton; prey with a veryhard exteriorLarge, rear teeth of MiddleTriassic icthyosaurs(Phalarodon, Omphalosaurus)are suggestive of mollusccrushing(Massare and Callaway,1990), however this typedisappeared by the Late Triassic;the Lower Triassic Grippiamay also have been durophagous(Lingham-Soliar, 1999)Gastric mass withcephalopod hooklets, mostlikely from belemnites orother types, in manyichthyosaur skeletons;coprolites indicate fishremains such as the Liassicnectonic or necto-benthicfish, Pholidophorus;?Jurassic cuttle-fish;?marine reptiles; wood;none found with ammonoidor belemnite shells ingastric contentsMassare, 1987,1997; Pollard,1968; Keller,1976; Motani etal., 1999126