page_title: Shonisaurus
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Shonisaurus / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Shonisaurus popularis English: Shonisaurus popularis
context_page_description: Shonisaurus is a genus of ichthyosaur. At least 37 incomplete fossil specimens of the marine reptile have been found in the Luning Formation of Nevada, USA. This formation dates to the late Carnian age of the late Triassic period, about 237-227 million years ago.
context_section_description: Fossils of Shonisaurus were first found in a large deposit in Nevada in 1920. Thirty years later, they were excavated, uncovering the remains of 37 very large ichthyosaurs. These were named Shonisaurus, which means "lizard from the Shoshone Mountains", after the formation where the fossils were found.
  S. popularis, was adopted as the state fossil of Nevada in 1984. Excavations, begun in 1954 under the direction of Charles Camp and  Samuel Welles of the University of California, Berkeley, were continued by Camp throughout the 1960s. It was named by Charles Camp in 1976.
  The Nevada fossil sites can currently be viewed at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park.
caption: Restoration
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