Fossil Finder Database 2022
Rare, worn and BIG! Although very worn, these are amongst the rarest of the ichthyosaur specimens in our database. Only one genus and species is known from this time period, hence the suggestion of Platypterygius compylodon as the identification. Note how the end is freshly broken – there is more of this massive beast out there in…
To turn, or not to turn, that is the question! Collected in 1981 as part of large project involving a team of volunteers led by Paul Ensom, Assistant Curator and geologist at the Dorset County Museum. Mr D. Selby was the discoverer and landowner. This is only a small part of the trackway-covered limestone surface…
Common or rare…? In the museum’s long history, this is the first Antiquilina in their collection, given to them in 2014. Does that make it common or rare? These bivalve shells are actually quite common in just one layer of the Blue Lias, exposed when the sea strips the beach. They can be seen but…
This is another incredible find from the Lower Purbeck Beds – caddisflies were around during the time of the dinosaurs! It is the first known record of its kind for the Purbeck Beds. Size of this specimen: 6mm
Dragonflies – living fossils Preserved in incredible detail, fossils such as this show us that dragonfies, perhaps the most iconic of all insects, are ancient ‘living fossils’. They date back some 300 million years – and at that time they were much bigger than today, with a wingspan of up to 30cm. Size of this…
Yorkshire invader What is an ammonite from the Yorkshire coast near Whitby doing on our fossil finder? Compare it with the ammonite from Eype; the same ammonite in a different rock found 300 miles apart. Ammonites evolved through time and some individual species only lived for short periods of geological time. If the same ammonite…
Wow, if only… If only this specimen had been complete when Sam Scriven rescued it from the sea… But that’s the nature of fossil collecting along our coast; erosion uncovers the fossils, but it also damages and destroys them unless people find them first.
A true bug ‘Bugs’ in the insect world include shield bugs, froghoppers, cicadas and aphids. Like all the other insects, the fossils tell us that they have been around for a very long time, little changed. They have sucking mouth parts which allow them to inject plants and animals in order to feed. The assassin…
Change of identity These specimens were previously identified by J B Delair as Stenosaurus sp. But they were reclassified as Metriorhynchine in 2014 by Lorna Steel of the Natural History Museum and Mark Young, University of Edinburgh. They were collected by Miss Katherine Ouless, a significant name in the Dorset County Museum’s history. The collection date…