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The
first plesiosaur skeletons were found in England by Mary Anning,
in the early 1800s, and were amongst the first fossil vertebrates
to be described by science. Many 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 (UK) by someone fishing from the shore. This specimen,
called the Collard specimen after its finder, will be on display
in Taunton museum in 2007. Another, less complete skeleton
was found in 2002, in the cliffs at Filey, Yorkshire, England,
by an amateur palaeontologist. The preserved skeleton will
be displayed at Scarborough's new Rotunda Museum, from 2007.
Many museums
all over the world contain plesiosaur specimens. Notable
among them is the collection of plesiosaurs 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
Nottinghamshire reported by Stukely in 1719 which is the
earliest written record of any marine reptile. Others specimens
include those purchased from Thomas Hawkins in the early
19th century.
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Historic
specimens such as these are on display in several 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 historic
specimen which has recently been prepared as part of a scientific
study was put on display in Lincoln Museum in 2005. Peterborough
Museum holds an excellent collection of plesiosaur material
from the Oxford Clay brick pits in the surrounding area, most
of which has been collected relatively recently. The most complete
known specimen of the long-necked plesiosaur Cryptoclidus, excavated
in the 1980s can be seen there. |
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