In summer 2023 a plesiosaur skeleton was offered at auction by Sotheby's that may have looked familiar. This notable specimen is the 'Blockley Plesiosaur', originally offered at auction by Sotheby's in 2010. This is a potentially significant specimen so I'm flagging it up to briefly discuss the provenance, history, and taxonomic identity…
Some museum collections contain a few scraps of plesiosaur materal. Others have large quantities. Whatever the size of the collection, there are almost always odd specimens which are interesting in one way or another and usually encountered whilst engaged in some completely different project. We may make a mental note to come…
The following label was found by Richard Forrest "in the collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History with J.28587, the holotype of Plesiosaurus macromus (Owen 1840)" He added the annotated image to the front page of his 'The Plesiosaur Site' around May 2014. I'm reposting it here under Richard's name…
I've been rather quiet again recently, however, as coauthor of an article just published in PLOS ONE, I've good reason to come out of my shell today. The new paper describes and names the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur, a spectacular almost complete skull over 2m long. As discussed in the open access paper…
There was a time when I'd leap into tippy-tappy action at the first sniff of a newly named plesiosaur. Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping Plesiosaur Bites up to date and a few new taxa have passed me by. Of course, when I say "a few", what I really mean is we are…
Most museum collections contain hidden treasures, but the Honington plesiosaur in the Warwickshire Museum is one treasure, I'm pleased to say, that is no longer hidden. I first came across the Honington plesiosaur while working in the geological collection of the Warwickshire Museum under the supervision of Jon Radley, the curator of…
So, time for more Planet Dinosaur plesiosaurs... In part 1 of we familiarised ourselves with the taxonomy and appearance of the plesiosaurian stars of the fourth episode of the BBC's Planet Dinosaur, 'Fight for Life'. Now we're all set up to pick apart, with ruthless abandon, the animators' painstaking efforts to bring…
An exciting new paper published this week in the journal Science (Vol. 333, p.870-873) provides the first direct evidence for live birth in plesiosaurs, and may have implications for plesiosaur behaviour (O'Keefe and Chiappe 2011). The plesiosaur Polycotylus giving birth to a single large baby. Based on new fossil evidence. Image by…
The Lottery Heritage Fund has purchased an enormous pliosaur skull from the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset coast. On 8th July 2011 the pliosaur hits the media again! The new Pliosaur display in the Jurassic Coast Gallery of Dorchester County Museum will be formally opened, with David Attenborough as special guest. The…
I previously reported (see here and here) on the plesiosauroid skeleton discovered in 2007 in Kreis Hoxter, near Bielefeld, Northern Germany. The specimen was excavated from the Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) age strata in ten large blocks by the LWL-Museum für Naturkunde, Münsterand. A major proportion of the fossil has now been prepared by…
I reported in Summer 2007 on a four-metre-long plesiosaur skeleton that was discovered in Kreis Hoxter, near Bielefeld, Northern Germany by amateur collector Sönke Simonsen. I can now provide a short update on the fossil. The specimen was successfully excavated in ten large blocks by the LWL-Museum für Naturkunde, Münsterand, where preparation…
The discovery of a new plesiosaur specimen was recently announced by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, South Dakota, USA. 11-year-old Devon Zimmerman noticed the skull and part of the backbone on the bank of the Missouri River, near Pickstown, South Dakota, during a vacation with parents Duane and DeeAnn…
A press release on the finds from the 2007 season has been released by the University of Oslo. You can find more information, and images from the expeditions on the University web site. The news is, of course, dominated by the large pliosaur, which is reliably estimated as 15 meters long. The paddle alone is 3 meters long.…
Another giant pliosauroid plesiosaur fossil from Arctic Svalbard Islands appears to represent a new species. The specimen was discovered and initial excavations took place in Summer 2007. The treasure trove of marine reptile fossils were first discovered in 2006 by a team from the University of Oslo, Natural History Museum, led by…
A plesiosaur bone has been discovered in Ireland, reported the BBC in October. The single bone represents a large plesiosaur vertebral centrum, but cannot be identified in any detail. It was discovered by Park Ranger Paul Bennet in the Colin River in Colin Glen, on the West edge of Belfast, Northern Ireland.…