First complete Plesiosaurus skeleton
Primer esqueleto completo de Plesiosaurus
- Date
- diciembre de 1823 · confidence high
- Place
- Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Mary Anning
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Near Lyme Regis, Anning found the first complete skeleton of Plesiosaurus, a roughly 3.5-metre marine reptile from the Early Jurassic, two years after Conybeare and De la Beche had named the genus from fragmentary remains. The find allowed the type species to be formally described and sparked Victorian fascination with 'antediluvian reptiles'.
What it led to
- Formal description of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus by Conybeare (1824)
- Plesiosaurus as the archetypal genus of the order Plesiosauria
- Rise of public interest in marine reptile fossils
Built on
- Fragmentary remains used by Conybeare and De la Beche to name the genus (1821)