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''Attenborosaurus'' is an
The original remains of the holotype, specimen PV OR 38525, were discovered in Charmouth, Dorset, England in 1880 and was described in 1881 before being housed at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, where a cast was taken of NHMUK R1339 and sent to the Natural History Museum in London by William Johnson Sollas, , where it stayed until the holotype was destroyed in November 1940, during World War II, leaving only plaster casts of the remains to be studied; the type cast (specimen NHMUK R1339) is now housed at the Natural History Museum, London along with a referred specimen (specimen NHMUK OR40140/R1360; includes no head, neck or tail, most of the body, ribs and all flippers except for the front right) and another partial specimen, including a skull and postcrania purchased by E.C. Day in 1866 (specimen NHMUK OR40140), also from Dorset. At first the animal was thought to be another '' Plesiosaurus'' 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
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. 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.
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
genus of pliosaurid from the Early Jurassic of Dorset, England. 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 author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
, the species after William Conybeare.
History
The original remains of the holotype, specimen PV OR 38525, were discovered in Charmouth, Dorset, England in 1880 and was described in 1881 before being housed at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, where a cast was taken of NHMUK R1339 and sent to the Natural History Museum in London by William Johnson Sollas, , where it stayed until the holotype was destroyed in November 1940, during World War II, leaving only plaster casts of the remains to be studied; the type cast (specimen NHMUK R1339) is now housed at the Natural History Museum, London along with a referred specimen (specimen NHMUK OR40140/R1360; includes no head, neck or tail, most of the body, ribs and all flippers except for the front right) and another partial specimen, including a skull and postcrania purchased by E.C. Day in 1866 (specimen NHMUK OR40140), also from Dorset. At first the animal was thought to be another '' Plesiosaurus'' 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
Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor J ...
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
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. 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 follows an analysis by Benson & Druckenmiller (2014).