Plesiosauroidea - History of Discovery

History of Discovery

The first complete plesiosauroid skeletons were found in England by Mary Anning, in the early 19th century, and were amongst the first fossil vertebrates to be described by science. Plesiosauroid remains were found by the Scottish geologist Hugh Miller in 1844 in the rocks of the Great Estuarine Group (then known as 'Series') of western Scotland. Many others have been found, some of them virtually complete, and new discoveries are made frequently. One of the finest specimens was found in 2002 on the coast of Somerset (England) by someone fishing from the shore. This specimen, called the Collard specimen after its finder, was on display in Taunton Museum in 2007. Another, less complete, skeleton was also found in 2002, in the cliffs at Filey, Yorkshire, England, by an amateur palaeontologist. The preserved skeleton is displayed at Rotunda Museum in Scarborough.

Many museums have plesiosauroid specimens. Notable among them is the collection of plesiosauroids in the Natural History Museum, London, which are on display in the marine reptiles gallery. Several historically important specimens can be found there, including the partial skeleton from Elston, Nottinghamshire reported by William Stukeley in 1719 which is the earliest written record of any marine reptile. Other specimens include those purchased from Thomas Hawkins in the early 19th century.

Specimens are on display in museums in the UK, including New Walk Museum, Leicester, The Yorkshire Museum, The Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, Manchester Museum, Warwick Museum, Bristol Museum and the Dorset Museum. A specimen was put on display in Lincoln Museum (now The Collection) in 2005. Peterborough Museum holds an excellent collection of plesiosauroid material from the Oxford Clay brick pits in the area. The most complete known specimen of the long-necked plesiosauroid Cryptoclidus, excavated in the 1980s can be seen there.