Out of the Deep - Marine reptiles at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Hey everyone - hope you're all doing all right

 

For the past few days, I was for a short holiday in South England - and while I was in Oxford, I had the chance to see at the Natural History Museum a new, amazing exhibit called Out of the Deep. The display consisted of two remarkable, nearly complete skeletons of marine reptiles - both of them from the ~165-million-year-old Oxford Clay Formation of southern England. One of the skeletons was of a pliosaur (otherwise known as a short-necked plesiosaur) called Peloneustes, which had been discovered in 1994 in Yarnton (Oxfordshire). The other skeleton (nicknamed "Eve"), discovered in Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) in 2014, was of a longer-necked plesiosaur. According to Roger Benson, the skeleton might represent a new species.

Both skeletons are really beautiful - and I'd recommend all of you to check them out  

 

The Out of the Deep display, with its two plesiosaur skeletons in all their glory  Photo credit Oxford University Museum of Natural History

 

Well-preserved mandible from the Peloneustes skeleton

 

The nearly complete skull of "Eve" the long-necked plesiosaur...

 

The Out of the Deep exhibit is truly a must-see!!

 

-Christian

[Natalie81]

Amazing! Thanks for showing