Discovery of the first Ichthyosaurus
Descubrimiento del primer Ichthyosaurus
- Date
- 1811-1812 · confidence high
- Place
- Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Mary Anning and her brother Joseph Anning
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
At barely twelve years old, Mary Anning and her brother found in the cliffs of Lyme Regis the first complete skeleton of a large extinct marine reptile, which became the type specimen of the genus Ichthyosaurus. The find was one of the first compelling physical proofs that now-extinct species had once existed, and helped found palaeontology as a science.
What it led to
- Founding of vertebrate palaeontology
- Mary Anning's belated scientific recognition