All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
27 05, 2019

Beautiful Postcards of Ichthyosaurs

By | May 27th, 2019|Adobe CS5, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page, Photos/Pictures of Fossils|0 Comments

Postcards of Ichthyosaurs

A team member at Everything Dinosaur found some beautiful postcards that feature spectacular British fossils, in this case ichthyosaurs, in one of our offices the other day.  We thought we would share a picture of the prehistoric themed postcards on our blog.

A Pair of Prehistoric Postcards Featuring Different Species of Ichthyosaur

Postcards showing Ichthyosaurs.
Postcards that illustrate spectacular British fossils – Ichthyosaurus.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The postcards come from a range of “natural selection prints”, illustrations of spectacular fossils from the UK.  They depict scientific illustrations that we think accompanied the description of the species when it was erected.

Ichthyosaurus moorei (Leptonectes moorei)

The postcard (top) shows a plate from the scientific paper that led to the erection of the species Ichthyosaurus moorei.  The holotype material associated with this animal comes from Seatown on the Dorset coast (Jurassic Coast).  However, as our knowledge of the Ichthyosauria as improved, so fossils associated with I. moorei have been reassigned and placed outside the Ichthyosaurus genus.  There are enough distinctive characteristics (autapomorphies), to permit an erection of a separate genus.  The genus Leptonectes moorei was established in 1999.

Ichthyosaurus breviceps

I. breviceps is another species of marine reptile, despite being named a long time ago, in 1881 by Richard Owen (later Sir Richard Owen), it has remained a member of the Ichthyosaurus genus.  This type of Ichthyosaurus is also associated with the Jurassic Coast of Dorset.  Its fossils are relatively rare when compared to the contemporaneous I. communis.  It is characterised by its relatively short, but robust snout.  The shape of the jaw suggests that this marine reptile may have fed on different kinds of food compared to other “fish lizards”, it may have been more of a generalist eating a wider variety of prey, an example of niche partitioning within the biota associated with the Lower Jurassic.

An Illustration of a Typical Ichthyosaur – W. massarae

Wahlisaurus massarae illustrated
An illustration of the ichthyosaur known as Wahlisaurus massarae, which was named and described back in 2016.  Research into the Ichthyosauria is on-going and existing specimens can be reassigned to different species or even different genera as more data becomes available.

Picture credit: James McKay

To view models of prehistoric animals including marine reptiles: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models.

27 05, 2019

New Book All About Theropod Dinosaurs

By | May 27th, 2019|General Teaching|Comments Off on New Book All About Theropod Dinosaurs

A New Book All About Theropod Dinosaurs

At Everything Dinosaur, we do all we can to encourage children with their reading.  Books open doors and in our job we get the opportunity to read and review a huge range of science books all about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.  We occasionally get asked to review fictional tales about dinosaurs, especially ones aimed at young readers.  Recently, the publishing team at the Natural History Museum asked us to provide a precis and review of a new book all about dinosaurs entitled “The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs The Theropods”.  This book was originally published in Spanish, but now it has been translated into a number of other languages.

The Front Cover of “The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs – The Theropods”

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs The Theropods"
The “Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs The Theropods” (front cover).

Teaching About Dinosaurs

When team members visit schools to deliver dinosaur and fossil themed workshops to classes, we discuss our work and the contribution we make to the publishing industry.  The children are most excited about this, especially when we mention that we get lots of free books!

To read our review of “The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs The Theropods”A Review of the New Dinosaur Book (May 2019) “The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs – The Theropods”.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

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