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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…