Ichthyosaurus anningae

Ichthyosaurus anningae Temporal range: Lower Jurassic PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	†Ichthyosauria
Family:	†Ichthyosauridae
Genus:	†Ichthyosaurus
Species:	† I. anningae
Binomial name
Ichthyosaurus anningae Lomax and Massare, 2015

Ichthyosaurus anningae is an extinct species of aquatic reptile in the genus Ichthyosaurus, formally described in 2015 from a fossil found in the early 1980s in Dorset, England. It is named after the fossil hunter Mary Anning, who discovered the first Ichthyosaur fossil to be scientifically recognised.

Discovery

The fossil was acquired by Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, where it was misidentifed as a plaster cast. In 2008, Dean Lomax, from the University of Manchester, recognised it as genuine and worked with Judy Massare, of the State University of New York, to establish it as a new species.

Lomax said:

It is an honour to name a new species, but to name it after somebody who is intertwined with such an important role in helping to sculpt the science of palaeontology, especially in Britain, is something that I’m very proud of. In fact, one of the specimens in our study was even found by Mary herself! Science is awesome.