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…
Earlier this month I co-authored a poster at SVP 2012 describing a new pliosaur from the Sinemurian of Lyme Regis (Smith and Araújo 2012). I was unable to attend the conference in person so my collaborator and friend Ricardo Araujo was on hand to present our preliminary findings. Ricardo Araújo stands proudly next…
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…
The TCD specimen of the plesiosaur Attenborosaurus has spent the last few weeks being prepared and painted for eventual display in the geology museum. The plesiosaur was renamed in 1993 to honour Sir David Attenborough, who was recently awarded an honorary degree from TCD; we therefore took the fine opportunity to combine his…
There are several casts of fossil marine reptiles in the collection of the Geological Museum of Trinity College, Dublin. The majority of these are currently on display but the largest specimen, a cast of the holotype of Attenborosaurus conybeari, has spent the last half a century in the basement store of the Museum…
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…
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…