‘Plesiosaur Bites’ Blog

An old debate settled – plesiosaurs gave birth to live young

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Depiction of Polycotylus giving birth to a single large baby. Based on evidence presented by O'Keefe and Chiappe 2011. Image by S. Abramowicz/NHM

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…

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The Weymouth Bay Pliosaur

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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…

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Prepared ‘Kreis Hoxter plesiosaur’ is new taxon

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…

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Mine’s bigger than yours! The Monster of Aramberri, Predator X, and other monster pliosaurs in the media

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During the past decade several dramatically named giant pliosaurs have hit the mainstream media, many claiming to be the biggest yet discovered. But only a trickle of peer-reviewed literature has been published to accompany these news stories. The lack of published data makes it really difficult to sift the facts from the…

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New plesiosaur replicas for 2011

A couple of new plesiosaur figures will be released in 2011, both from blossoming company CollectA. As a UK-based company CollectA has a tendency to choose British taxa, sometimes rather obscure ones. So forget Elasmosaurus or Kronosaurus, CollectA have gone out of their way to produce the first ever replica of two…

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They aren’t toys, they’re ‘museum quality replicas’!

As if running a blog dedicated to plesiosaurs isn't geeky enough, I admit to being a toy collector as well. It isn't a secret that I run a second website (dinotoyblog.com) (and forum) dedicated to dinosaur figures, and since launching that site it has become apparent that there is a surprisingly large…

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Naming Meyerasaurus – a guest article by Marc Vincent

I'm pleased to present a guest article by journalism student Marc Vincent. The subject is the naming of Meyerasaurus, a topic that links in quite nicely with a previous post. Marc produced the article for his university course. The quotes from myself are the result of an interview Marc conducted as part…

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Whatever happened to ‘Thaumatosaurus’ – the wonder reptile?

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Meyerasaurus model in the SMNS.

This article might be considered a bit of a cheat, as it's mostly lifted from a section of my recent paper describing the new genus Meyerasaurus, formerly 'Thaumatosaurus'/Rhomaleosaurus victor (Smith and Vincent 2010). However, I think the topic is interesting and might be appreciated by a wider audience. Especially those who think,…

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The name game: Plesiosaur-ia, -oidea, -idae, or -us?

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Reconstruction of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus in lateral view. From Conybeare (1824).

Proper taxonomic names, with formal suffixes, can be confusing at the best of times. But when they include identical prefixes their meaning can be further complicated. For example, to what taxonomic group does the colloquial term 'plesiosaur' refer: Plesiosauria, Plesiosauroidea, Plesiosauridae, or Plesiosaurus? With all these similar sounding names it is not surprising that laypersons and specialists…

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New plesiosaur replicas for 2010

Several notable plesiosaur figures were released for 2010. Safari Ltd produced a Walking With Dinosaurs inspired Liopleurodon replica and a 'toob' containing an array of small marine reptiles and other prehistoric marine critters. Papo produced an unusual Plesiosaurus. These figures are reviewed and photographed in detail over at The Dinosaur Toy Blog: Liopleurodon…

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Monstertalk Podcast – The Plesiosaur Hypothesis

Monstertalk is a new sceptical podcast focussing on all things cryptozoological. The most recent episode (episode 004) delves into the idea that plesiosaurs may still be alive today, lurking in lochs and lakes around the world - the so called Plesiosaur Hypothesis.  I was interviewed as a guest on this episode and…

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‘Bones’ the plesiosaur

The recent 'Sea Dragons of Avalon' symposium in Street was a great success - congratulations to everyone involved. See Darren Naish's blog Tetrapod Zoology for a full report - part 1 and part 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the event and it was an excellent opportunity to meet up with colleagues and even…

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Sea Dragons of Avalon – Palaeontological Association Review Seminar

Well, my flight, hotel and annual leave (!) are booked and I'm looking forward to attending the upcoming Palaeontological Association Review Seminar: Sea Dragons of Avalon, taking place next week (Friday 31st July) in Street, Somerset, UK. Although I posted details on my website months ago  and despite my best intentions, I…

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Plesiosaur unveiled to Sir David Attenborough

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…

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Trinity College Attenborosaurus to go on exhibit

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…

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