Plesiosaur Day, 18 November 2004 - Some notes on the meeting
Leslie Noè
The cranial descriptions of the three genera I covered in my thesis are
nearing completion for publication;
Working with Mike Taylor on the Street fauna;
The elasmosaur neck and salt gland papers are close to completion;
Work is continuing on the new pliosaur genus here in the Sedgwick and
in Oxford;
I'm close to tracking down the lost holotype of Cryptoclidus.
Also areas that to me seem to be critical for further research are:
The origin and early evolution of the group;
Developing a rigorous and generally accepted phylogeny (via cladistics
or other methods);
Elucidating the reasons for the various morphological changes seen in
the group through time;
Development of robust models of locomotion for individual taxa, leading
into a wider understanding within and across the group.
Marcella Gomez
Working on the detailed description of the cranial anatomy of the Colombian beast, and commencing the preparation of the post-crania;
David Brown
Newcastle University Dental School
I will not be embarking on any new plesiosaur research, but before I retire (in 8 years!!) I aim to publish just 2 papers which have been partly prepared for a long time. These are:
1. A description of the small elasmosaurid plesiosaur in Hugh Miller's
Reptile Bed from the Isle of Eigg.
2. A description of the skull of the holotype specimen of Microcleidus
homalospondylus (BMNH 36184), which I prepared rather a long way
back and for which I have done all the detailed drawings.