The second paper in the two-part report on by Albright et al. on plesiosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous Tropic Shale of southern Utah (Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Volume 27(1) p. 41-58), introduces two new genera and species of polycotylid plesiosaur and contributes to the systematics of polycotylid plesiosaurs. The first new genus and species, Palmula quadratus possesses a unique combination...
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 separate descriptions and names for the...
A specimen found in Lincoln over a hundred years ago has recently been prepared and mounted for exhibition. It is now one of the most popular exhibits in the new Lincoln Museum. Childhood Memories This is a rather personal account of a specimen with which I have a particularly close connection. It starts with a vague childhood memory of going...
Elasmosaurid plesiosaurs are notorious for ‘losing their heads’. In fossil plesiosaur skeletons the skull is frequently missing, unfortunate because this is such a vital part of the anatomy for understanding the relationships and biology of the animal. This fact makes the discovery of a new elasmosaurid skull, the first ever from the state of Montana, all the more significant. The...
The long neck of the plesiosaur is a mysterious adaptation for which many hypotheses have been proposed. The most recent suggestion comes from Dr Leslie Noè of the University of Cambridge . After examining the neck vertebrae of the long-necked plesiosaur Muraenosaurus, whose name translates as ‘Moray eel lizard’, Dr Noè concluded that the natural position of the neck was...
There has been a spate of reports in the media recently about an important find of marine reptiles from the Svalbard, in the Norwegian arctic. The largest island in this archipelago is Spitzbergen. Fragmentary remains from this area have been reported for almost a century (Wiman 1914). However, these have been only of isolated elements. The number and fine preservation...
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 next year. Most of the plesiosaurs belong to...
I am honoured and not a little surprised to see this very site appear in leading science journal ‘Science’. Every issue of the journal contains a section called ‘Netwatch’, featuring a crop of recommended online resources – the “best of the Web in Science”. To see what ‘Science’ had to say about the ‘Plesiosaur Directory’ in the latest issue (1st...
South Dublin City, 6.30am, Thursday 10th of August 2006. I clamber into the passenger seat of a 4×4 – 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 fossil plesiosaur known as Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni to the...
A four metre long plesiosaur from Yorkshire known as the ‘Speeton Plesiosaur’ after the place where it was discovered, is now fully prepared from the rock and ready to be displayed in the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough, once it opens in 2007. The specimen is unnamed but certainly represents a new species of long-necked plesiosaur. It was temporarily displayed at...
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 the Premier League. Here was an animal that...
I finally found the time to visit the James Mitchel Museum at the University of Galway, Ireland. The main plesiosaur in the museum is on display, mounted high on the wall at the far end of the museum (figured below). The fossil is from Lyme Regis and is identified as Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus. Most unstudied plesiosaurs such as this are labelled...
An exhibit in the Submarine Museum, Gosport, England, reveals how submarines might have been named after extinct marine reptiles. The Inspecting captain of Submarine proposed the idea in 1902 but the suggestion was quashed by superiors. Seems a shame to me! The exhibit reads as follows (kindly transcribed by Simon. M. Clabby): Bacon and Dinosaurs!!! Captain Reginald Bacon was the...
The unveiling of a new plesiosaur mount formed the highlight of a Mini-Symposium dedicated to plesiosaurs, held at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Centre, USA, last month (25 February 2006). Five Speakers presented talks at the event, discussing their research into plesiosaurs in the USA (pictured below alongside the new mount). The plesiosaur on display was discovered in the...
The almost complete three-dimensional skeleton of a plesiosaur from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis, the famous fossil-hunting spot in Dorset, England, sold at auction last December (2005) at a closing bid of £30000 (some web-sites report the figure as over £35000). The specimen was collected about 20 years ago and is estimated to be 3.5m long. It has been...