Attenborosaurus

Genus:
Attenborosaurus
Genus author:
Bakker, 1993
Classification:
Age:
Sinemurian, Early Jurassic
Location:
Charmouth, Dorset, England
Referred material (sp.):
-
Type species:

Attenborosaurus conybeari

Species:
A. conybeari
Species author:
(Sollas 1881)
Type specimen:
Bristol Museum (destroyed)
Age:
Sinemurian, Early Jurassic
Geological formation:
Charmouth Mudstone Formation?
Type location:
Charmouth, Dorset, England
Referred material:
NHMUK 40140/R1360, also from Charmouth, partial skeleton on display in the Natural History Museum, London

Attenborosaurus is an unusual plesiosaur because it combines a long neck with a relatively large head. It is classified as a pliosaur in some classifications, but some phylogenies place it in a more basal position. The genus was introduced for ‘Plesiosaurus’ conybeari, a species originally described by Sollas (1881). Bob Bakker coined the new genus name to honour the esteemed wildlife documentarian Sir David Attenborough (Bakker 1993).

Photograph of the holotype of Attenborosaurus, before it was destroyed. The skeleton was mounted in a block together with a cast of the opposite side of the body and the opposite side of the head (from Swinton, 1949)

The original holotype specimen of Attenborosaurus, a nearly complete skeleton, was sadly destroyed along with some other plesiosaurs (e.g. Atychodracon megacephalus) during the Blitz of the Second World War. At least three casts of the specimen were made and survive today. One is on display in the Natural History Museum, London. There is also a damaged cast (specimen TCD.47763) in Trinity College, Dublin (Wyse Jackson 2004), and a cast in the Department of Earth Science, Oxford University. In the Oxford specimen the left side of the skull is exposed. This contrasts with the original specimen and other casts, in which the right side of the skull is exposed. The skull in the Oxford specimen has therefore been mounted upside down.

The cast of Attenborosaurus in the Natural History Musuem, London.
Cast of the Skull of Attenborosaurus, in Trinity College, Dublin.
Photograph of a cast of Attenborosaurus in the Department of Earth Science, Oxford University. Photographs by Cait, used with kind permission.
Photograph of a cast of Attenborosaurus in the Department of Earth Science, Oxford University. Photographs by Cait, used with kind permission.
Photographs of a cast of Attenborosaurus in the Department of Earth Science, Oxford University. Photographs by Cait, used with kind permission.