Timeline of plesiosaur research

[2] 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.

[3] Plesiosaurs were originally thought to be a kind of primitive transitional form between marine life and terrestrial reptiles.

[6] The earliest speculations on the subject during the 19th century saw plesiosaur swimming as analogous to the paddling of modern sea turtles.

He found Dolichorhynchops osborni to have had an even longer lifespan, from the middle Turonian to the early Campanian., or roughly 4 million years.

His research also suggested that there was a span of time during the life of the Western Interior Seaway in which it was not inhabited by polycotylids.

[29] He also reported that the Dolichorhynchops specimen KUVP 40001 from the Pierre Shale of South Dakota may have achieved the extraordinary length of 23 feet.