Ichthyosaurs are extinct marine reptiles that superficially resemble dolphins and sharks, but are neither. They are most definitely not ‘swimming dinosaurs’. They were fully aquatic marine tetrapods that lived in the seas, while their more famous counterparts, the dinosaurs, roamed the land. They achieved a worldwide distribution. Remains have been discovered from the late Early Triassic to the early Late Cretaceous and over a hundred species have been described (Cleary et al., 2016).
The coastal town of Lyme Regis, situated on the south coast of England in Dorset, is seen often as the birthplace of ichthyosaurs. Many ichthyosaurs were collected from Lyme Regis during the early 19th century and were first brought to the attention of the scientific world by a fantastic pioneering woman in science, named Mary Anning.
The focus of this article is based upon perhaps the most famous ichthyosaur genus, Ichthyosaurus, which lends its name to the group. The first ichthyosaur to be scientifically recognized was Ichthyosaurus, and specimens collected during the 19th century were almost exclusively referred to that genus, resulting in over 50 different species assigned to it before 1900 (McGowan and Motani, 2003). Prior to my research, three species were considered valid: Ichthyosaurus communis (Conybeare, 1822), I. breviceps (Owen, 1881) and I. conybeari (Lydekker, 1888).
Ichthyosaurus communis has for a substantially long time been considered a highly variable and ‘common’ species of the genus, resulting in the title of a wastebasket taxon. In brief, everything that cannot be readily identified as one of the other two species of the genus is regarded as I. communis. The genus has received little in the way of taxonomic study since the 1970s. The remains have not been examined in light of current views of ichthyosaur taxonomy, morphology and phylogenetic studies, which have greatly developed since the 1970s.
NO-BODY-SAURUS
In 2008, I began researching the collections of my hometown museum, Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery in South Yorkshire, England. Unbeknownst to me, a paleontology collection, comprising wonderful fossils, had been awaiting rediscovery (see Bowden et al. 2014). On my very first day, I was shown a specimen of an ichthyosaur, but this ichthyosaur was thought to be a plaster copy. I immediately recognized that it was an original specimen and that it may be scientifically important. This specimen formed my first-ever peer reviewed publication, which described the stomach contents preserved with the ichthyosaur (Lomax, 2010).
Little information was recorded with the specimen and the location of discovery was unknown. However, I noted a single belemnite (squid-like animal) preserved in the matrix, next to the skull. The belemnite was identified and noted to have come from only one specific horizon in the world, exposed around Charmouth, Dorset. This rock layer dated to the Jurassic Period and to a time known as the Pliensbachian. Pliensbachian ichthyosaurs are rare and this specimen represents the world's most complete example on record. I determined that the specimen belonged to the genus Ichthyosaurus, but was unable to identify the species and believed it to be something unusual.
In 2010, after a couple of years of independent research, I teamed up with Professor Judy Massare of Brockport College, NY, USA, a renowned ichthyosaur expert. Together, we began a scientific adventure that would take up much of my academic research.
