Thaumatodracon – the Wonder Dragon
In 2012 I co-presented a poster at the SVP annual meeting on a new plesiosaur from Lyme Regis, UK (see my article about it here). The long awaited follow up paper was finally published this summer in...
View ArticleSix years of new plesiosaur replicas (2012-2017)
It is hard to believe that the last time I wrote about plesiosaur toys here was in March 2011, over six years ago (http://plesiosauria.com/news/index.php/new-plesiosaur-replicas-for-2011/). Since then,...
View ArticleBook review: Kronos Rising: Kraken (vol. 1), by Max Hawthorne
“[His] mind began to shut down in an effort to preserve his sanity” – Garm Braddock in Kronos Rising: Kraken (vol. 1) Hawthorne’s mahoosive Kronosaurus imperator is back and this time she’s brought her...
View ArticleInvestigating plesiosaur swimming using computer simulations
One of the many areas of controversy in plesiosaur palaeobiology is the topic of how they swam. The question goes back almost 200 years to the 1820s when the first complete plesiosaurs were described...
View ArticleResurrecting the Unfortunate Dragon
The five metre-long holotype specimen of ‘Plesiosaurus’ megacephalus, from the Jurassic of Street-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, was one of several plesiosaur specimens once displayed in the Bristol Museum...
View ArticleMonograph on Rhomaleosaurus thorntoni
Many readers will be familiar with the giant plesiosaur on display in the marine reptiles gallery of the Natural History Museum, London. This is a cast of the 7 metre long holotype of Rhomaleosaurus...
View ArticleWhy did elasmosaurids have such a long neck?
It was once common knowledge that elasmosaurid plesiosaurs were bendy-necked beasts that swanned about near the surface, striking snake-like at slippery prey. It is now common knowledge that their...
View ArticleBook review: Kronos Rising by Max Hawthorne
“After 65 million years, the world’s greatest predator is back” – Max Hawthorne “Oh blimey, we’re gonna die!” – an Englishman in Kronos Rising. Note – this review contains minor spoilers. Kronos...
View ArticleBook review: Sticks ‘N’ Stones ‘N’ Dinosaur Bones
“I’ll tell you a story — and some of it’s true – that explores and explains what the Bone-Hunters do.” You’re probably already familiar with the Bone Wars, or the Great Dinosaur Rush, but you won’t...
View ArticleBook review: Plesiosaur Peril by Daniel Loxton
In Plesiosaur Peril, author Daniel Loxton plunges us into the Jurassic ocean, to recount a day in the life of a baby Cryptoclidus. The book is the third in Loxton’s ‘Tales of Prehistoric Life’ series,...
View ArticleA new domain for The Marine Reptiles Forum
The marine reptiles forum, which was unfortunately hacked last year (2013) and has been offline for several months since, is now back up and running. Richard Forrest was able to salvage all the old...
View ArticleThe Plesiosaur Directory wins the 2013 Golden Trilobite Award
The Golden Trilobite is awarded annually by the Palaeontological Association to “high quality amateur and institutional websites that promote the charitable aims of the Association”. I’ve no idea who...
View ArticlePliosaurus kevani – the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur
I’ve been rather quiet again recently, however, as coauthor of an article just published in PLOS ONE, I’ve good reason to come out of my shell today. The new paper describes and names the Weymouth Bay...
View ArticleA new Lyme Regis pliosaur
Earlier this month I co-authored a poster at SVP 2012 describing a new pliosaur from the Sinemurian of Lyme Regis (Smith and Araújo, 2012). I was unable to attend the conference in person so my...
View ArticleNew plesiosaurs, lots of new plesiosaurs!
There was a time when I’d leap into tippy-tappy action at the first sniff of a newly named plesiosaur. Unfortunately, I haven’t been keeping Plesiosaur Bites up to date and a few new taxa have passed...
View ArticleThe ‘Honington plesiosaur’ goes on show at Warwickshire Museum
Most museum collections contain hidden treasures, but the Honington plesiosaur in the Warwickshire Museum is one treasure, I’m pleased to say, that is no longer hidden. The Honington plesiosaur being...
View ArticleThe Planet Dinosaur plesiosaurs (part 2)
So, time for more Planet Dinosaur plesiosaurs… In part 1 of we familiarised ourselves with the taxonomy and appearance of the plesiosaurian stars of the fourth episode of the BBC’s Planet Dinosaur,...
View ArticleThe Planet Dinosaur plesiosaurs (part 1)
Astute viewers of BBC’s plesiosaur-fest on Planet Dinosaur this week may have spotted my name dash across the screen at the end credits. ‘Fight for Life’, the fourth in the series, was the first...
View ArticleAn old debate settled – plesiosaurs gave birth to live young
An exciting new paper published this week in the journal Science (Vol. 333, p.870-873) provides the first direct evidence for live birth in plesiosaurs, and may have implications for plesiosaur...
View ArticlePrepared ‘Kreis Hoxter plesiosaur’ is new taxon
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...
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