''Attenborosaurus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of pliosaurid from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The type species is ''A. conybeari''. The genus is named after

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

, the species after William Conybeare.

History

The original remains of the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, specimen, were discovered in

Charmouth Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,31 ...

in 1880 and was described in 1881. This original specimen was housed at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery where it stayed until it was destroyed in November 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Thankfully, before the war, a cast had been made by William Johnson Sollas, and sent to the Natural History Museum in London. This specimen (specimen NHMUK PV R1339) is still housed at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

along with two referred specimens: specimen NHMUK OR 39514 which includes part of the skull; and specimen NHMUK OR 40140 which includes a

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

and postcrania and was purchased by E.C. Day in 1866, also from

. Specimens NHMUK PV R 1339 and NHMUK OR 40140 are both on public display in Fossil Way at the museum (although NHMUK OR 40140 is mislabeled as "40140/R1360"). At first the animal was thought to be another ''

Plesiosaurus ''Plesiosaurus'' (Greek: ' ('), near to + ' ('), lizard) is a genus of extinct, large marine sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic. It is known by nearly complete skeletons from the Lias of England. It is distinguishable by ...

'' species by William Johnson Sollas in 1881, but after studies on the plaster casts made after the remains, ''Plesiosaurus conybeari'' was assigned to a new genus (''Attenborosaurus'') by Robert T. Bakker in 1993.Bakker, R. T. (1993). Plesiosaur extinction cycles - events that mark the beginning, middle and end of the Cretaceous. ''Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper'' 39:641–664

Description

Attenborosaurus conybeari life restoration

Judging by the holotype, which is the partial remains of one single specimen, the length of the animal was about . Much like its plesiosaur cousins, it was

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted rept ...

. From the skin impression found with the bones, which was later destroyed, it is presumed that the creature had membranous skin, devoid of any significantly large scales, probably for decreasing water resistances.

Classification

The following

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

follows an analysis by Benson & Druckenmiller (2014).

References

External links

David Attenborough and his 'Attenborosaurus' on YouTube

''Attenborosaurus'' on The Plesiosaur Directory
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2702243 Early Jurassic plesiosaurs of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1993 Pliosauridae Taxa named by Robert T. Bakker David Attenborough Sauropterygian genera Taxa with lost type specimens

History

Description

Classification

See also

References

External links