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…
The most recent Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology (Volume 27(1)) contains three new plesiosaur papers. A short communication by Ben Kear (Kear 2007, p. 241-246) clarifies the taxonomy of what has become a very confusing taxon - Eromangasaurus (Kear 2005). The confusion originated because two separate researchers (Ben Kear and Sven Sachs) simultaneously published…
A total of 22 plesiosaurs have been discovered during an expedition to the Arctic island of Spitzbergen by the University of Oslo, Natural History Museum. The team led by Dr. Jørn Hurum and Hans Arne Nakrem also discovered ichthyosaurs - but the majority of the fossils await excavation when the team return…
South Dublin City, 6.30am, Thursday 10th of August 2006. I clamber into the passenger seat of a 4x4 - destination London. My travelling companions are Colin in the driver's seat, and two suspiciously large wooden crates. A monster lurks inside: the skull of the Dublin plesiosaur. The plan is to transport the…
There is an unofficial 'Premier League' in vertebrate palaeontology which consits of the animals which attract a lot of public attention. Its members include T. rex, Seismosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Giganotosaurus and so on - the biggest and fiercest extinct animals. When the BBC broadcast 'Walking with Dinosaurs' they moved Liopleurodon ferox firmly into…
Press reports of the finding of a plesiosaur on the Somerset coast hit the news last year. Dennis Parsons of Somerset County Museum has given presentation on this remarkable specimen at the SPPC, and during our 'Plesiosaur Day' in November 2004. Arthur Cruickshank, Mark Evans and I (Richard Forrest) have visited the…
The discovery of a huge and substantially complete pliosaur in Mexico hit the press on the 28th December 2002. I've heard from Marie-Celine Buchy, and I can put to rest some of the more obvious exagerations and mistakes made by the media. The monster comes from the La Casita Fm (Kimmeridgian), a…