page_title: Timeline of ichthyosaur research
section_title: 1900s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of ichthyosaur research / 20th century / 1900s
caption_attribution_description: English: Omphalosaurus - stem-ichthyopterygian witn blunt theeth. From Middle Triassic (Asinian-Ladinian) of Nevada and Germany. About 3 m long. Русский: Omphalosaurus - базальная ихтиоптеригия с давящими зубами. Средний триас Невады и Германии. Длина около 3 м.
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: 1902
  J. C. Merriam named the new species Shastasaurus alexandrae after Annie Alexander, the wealthy fossil enthusiast who financed much of his research and founded the Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley. He also described the species that would later come to be known as Californosaurus perrini.
  1903
  J. C. Merriam described the new genus Toretocnemus from Late Triassic rocks in California. Along with the genus, he described the species Toretocnemus californicus and Toretocnemus zitteli.
  1904
  Boulenger described the species that would later become known as Brachypterygius extremus.
  Jaekel described the new genus Stenopterygius.
  1906
  J. C. Merriam discovered the unusual remains of an animal with short jaws and button-shaped teeth in Nevada. He thought it was the first member of a new group of reptiles related to placodonts or rhynchosaurs but it would actually come to be recognized as ichthyosaurian and described as the genus Omphalosaurus.
  1908
  Broili described the species that would later come to be known as Platypterygius platydactylus.
  1909
  Abel erected the genus Eurhinosaurus for the species Ichthyosaurus longirostris.
caption: Artist's restoration of Omphalosaurus
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