page_title: Timeline of ichthyosaur research
section_title: 1980s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of ichthyosaur research / 20th century / 1980s
caption_attribution_description: Ophthalmosaurus icenius, from the time of the Callovian period of the Middle Jurassic. This specimen was found in Oxford Clay, in Peterborough, England. Photo lightly touched up to remove lighting flares.
context_page_description: This timeline of ichthyosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ichthyosauromorphs, a group of secondarily aquatic marine reptiles whose later members superficially resembled dolphins, sharks, or swordfish. Scientists have documented ichthyosaur fossils at least as far back as the late 17th century. At that time, a scholar named Edward Lhwyd published a book on British fossils that misattributed some ichthyosaur vertebrae to actual fishes; their true nature was not recognized until the 19th century. In 1811, a boy named Joseph Anning discovered the first ichthyosaur fossils that would come to be scientifically recognized as such. His sister Mary would later find the rest of its skeleton and would go on to become a respected fossil collector and paleontologist in her own right.
  Early researchers recognized ichthyosaurs as marine reptiles, but major aspects of their anatomy and behavior needed to be resolved. They were frequently portrayed as leaving the water to bask on rocks and with straight tails.
context_section_description: 1980
  Joseph Gregory published the rest of his late friend Charles Camp's research on the ichthyosaurs of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. This publication contained a reconstruction of Shonisaurus portraying as a long-skulled long-finned animal with an unusually deep "pot belly".
  1983
  Angela Kirton reported the presence of teeth in skulls attributable to Ophthalmosaurus from England. The toothlessness of many adult skulls suggest that either Ophthalmosaurus lost its teeth as it aged or the teeth were only loosely attached and prone to falling out after death.
  1984
  Wade observed that the longest digit in the flipper of Platypterygius was made up of a series of 30 bones.
  Fossils of an unusual ichthyosaur whose upper jaw was much longer than its lower jaw were found.
  1985
  An adult Ichthyosaurus communis specimen was found with a tiny associated embryo of the same species in Kilve, Somerset.
  A man named Bernd Neubig discovered an ichthyosaur skeleton during construction of a railroad in Karlstadt, Germany. The specimen was the most complete ichthyosaur discovered in that region of the country.
  Gasparini reported the first scientifically documented ichthyosaur remains from Argentina. He referred the Argentine ichthyosaur to the genus Ophthalmosaurus.
  Otschev and Eﬁmov described the new species Platypterygius birjukovi.
  1986
  Christopher McGowan began leading a series of expeditions to Williston Lake, British Columbia, culminating in the discovery of the most complete known skeleton of Shastasaurus, which also served as the type specimen of a new species that would later be described in 1994.
  German paleontologist Jurgen Reiss speculated that ichthyosaurs swam using their front flippers the way modern penguins do rather than propelling themselves with their tail fluked.
  McGowan named the ichthyosaur with an unusually long, protruding upper jaw from Somerset Excalibosaurus, because it was found in the same general region where the legendary King Arthur obtained his sword.
  1987
  Mazin described the new species Omphalosaurus nettarhynchus.
  1988
  Massare and Callaway described a pregnant Mixosaurus specimen discovered in the Alps near the border between Switzerland and Italy. The specimen represented the oldest known evidence for live birth in ichthyosaurs.
  Three specimens attributable to a new Triassic ichthyosaur were discovered near Phattalung, Thailand by a man named Chongpan Chonglakmani.
  1989
  In Dorset, England, a new specimen of Grendelius was discovered. However, when Christoper McGowan studied this new specimen he realized that while distinct from Ophthalmosaurus, Grendelius was apparently the same as the previously named genus Brachypterygius and the names were synonymized.
  McGowan observed that many Leptonectes specimens have somewhat protruding upper jaws.
  Remains of a Triassic ichthyosaur were discovered in Sonora, Mexico.
  Callaway and Massare regarded the genus Phalarodon as a nomen dubium.
  Sander described the new species Cymbospondylus buchseri.
caption: Skeletal mount of Ophthalmosaurus
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