Anningasaura
Name:
Anningasaura
(Anning’s lizard).
Phonetic: An-ning-sore-rah.
Named By: P. Vincent & R. B. J.
Benson - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria.
Species: A. lymense (type).
Diet: Piscivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: England, Dorset, Lyme Regis
- Lias Group.
Time period: Hettangian/Sinemurian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Skull and partial post
cranial remains (NHMUK 49202 and NHMUK OR1336).
Anningasaura
was named in honour of Mary Anning. Mary Anning lived in the early
nineteenth century, and spent a lifetime collecting fossils on the
shorelines of Dorset, many of which were sold in her families shop in
Lyme Regis. Anning’s discoveries and contributions to science would
eventually lead to worldwide recognition of her work, and so she
became the first woman to make a name for herself in the field of
palaeontology.
As
a plesiosaur
genus, Anningasaura appears to have
been fairly small in
relation to other plesiosaurs, though for the early Jurassic this is
not that unusual. The holotype skull (NHMUK 49202) of
Anningasaura was first collected at Lyme Regis in
Dorset, the home of
Mary Anning and obvious inspiration of the name. Fossil deposits of
Lyme Regis and Dorset in general are famous for the large numbers of
marine organisms found in them, though dinosaurs such as Duriavenator
are also known. Since the description of the holotype, the partial
post cranial skeleton of a juvenile (NHMUK OR1336) once attributed
as a species of plesiosaurus have also been attributed to Anningasaura.
Like
with other plesiosaurs, Anningasaura would have
been a piscivorous
predator, which means that it mostly ate fish but possibly also soft
bodied cephalopods similar to modern squid. Anningasaura
in turn
would have had to keep a sharp eye out for early pliosaurs
which were
beginning to grow big and have a preference for marine reptiles like
plesiosaurs.
Further reading
- Anningasaura, a basal plesiosaurian
(Reptilia, Plesiosauria)
from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis, United Kingdom - P.
Vincent & R. B. J. Benson - 2012.
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