page_title: Timeline of plesiosaur research
section_title: 1930s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of plesiosaur research / 20th century / 1930s
caption_attribution_description: Leedsichthys problematicus &amp; Pliosaurus rossicus – reconstruction by author
context_page_description: This timeline of plesiosaur research is a chronologically ordered list of important fossil discoveries, controversies of interpretation, taxonomic revisions, and cultural portrayals of plesiosaurs, an order of marine reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic Era. The first scientifically documented plesiosaur fossils were discovered during the early 19th century by Mary Anning. Plesiosaurs were actually discovered and described before dinosaurs. They were also among the first animals to be featured in artistic reconstructions of the ancient world, and therefore among the earliest prehistoric creatures to attract the attention of the lay public. Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles. However, now plesiosaurs are recognized as highly derived marine reptiles descended from terrestrial ancestors.
  Early researchers thought that plesiosaurs laid eggs like most reptiles. They commonly imagined plesiosaurs crawling up beaches and burying eggs like turtles. However, later opinion shifted towards the idea that plesiosaurs gave live birth and never went on dry land.
context_section_description: 1930
  Swinton described the new species Macroplata tenuiceps.
  1931
  George F. Sternberg and M. V. Walker discovered a well-preserved large elasmosaur specimen.
  1931-1932
  Harvard University dispatched a fossil hunting expedition to Queensland, Australia. In Army Downs they discovered a nearly complete specimen of Kronosaurus.
  1934
  The "surgeon's photograph" of the Loch Ness monster was hoaxed, cementing the association between plesiosaurs and the mythical beast.
  c. 1935
  The University of Nebraska State Museum bought the elasmosaur specimen discovered by Sternberg and Walker in 1931. The specimen is now catalogued as UNSM 1195.
  1935
  Russell described the new species Trinacromerum kirki.
  1936
  A specimen of Trinacromerum was discovered in a roadside exposure of the Greenhorn Formation in Kansas. The specimen is now catalogued as KUVP 5070.
  1938
  A large pliosaur skeleton was found on the banks of Russia's Volga River. However, the specimen was damaged during the excavation and only the skull and chest region were successfully extracted.
caption: Pliosaurus rossicus (right) harassing Leedsichthys problematicus
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