An Initial Investigation into the Acquisition and Conservation History of the Fossil Marine Reptile Stenopterygius acutirostris (Owen) from the Upper Liassic near Whitby, Yorkshire, England

INTRODUCTION

A fossil marine reptile, Stenopterygius acutirostris, has been the subject of enquiry to confirm the whereabouts of this specimen by Professor Chris McGowan (Royal Ontario Museum, Canada). In 1974 McGowan placed Ichthyosaurus acutirostris, Owen 1840 in the family Stenopterygiidae and indicated that the holotype specimen BM(NH) 14553 was 'probably' lost. The discovery of the specimen with the anterior part of the rostrum missing together with the unusual composition of the 'complete' paddle initiated the investigation. It was decided to review the acquisition and conservation history of the specimen.

HISTORICAL REVIEW

1839 - This specimen was first observed by Richard Owen on display in the museum of the Natural History Society of Lancaster. Owen referred the Lancaster specimen to I. acutirostris in his Report of British Fossil Reptiles in the same year.

1840 - The specimen was purchased by the British Museum from the estate of Messrs Ripley. Richard Ripley was a surgeon of Whitby and the brother and partner of John Ripley. The two brothers were original members of the Society, and among those who signed the Laws and Regulations drawn up at the inaugural meeting in the Town Hall on January 17th, 1823. Richard Ripley was the Hon. Secretary from 1827 until his death in 1857. The Annual Report of the Society for 1837 shows Richard Ripley, Whitby, as Hon. Member, along with Richard Owen. Further purchases from Messrs Ripley were made by the British Museum in 1841 and 1842.

1851 - The specimen was recorded by Gideon Mantell in his book Petrifactions as being on display in the British Museum, Bloomsbury, and labelled I. longipennis. Mantell also notes 'the collection of ichthyosauri on display comprises 8 or 9 recognised species that have been rigorously examined and carefully determined by Professor Owen'.

The British Museum of Natural History opened on the present site in South Kensington in 1881. The specimen was transferred together with all the natural history collections from the British Museum to the British Museum of Natural History prior to 1881. The specimen was recorded as 'probably lost' by Chris McGowan (1974) when he revised the Longipinnate ichthyosaurs of the Lower Jurassic of England.

2001 - The specimen was re-located in the ichthyosaur collections store, but was found to have lost the anterior part of the rostrum and anterior-most region of the 'basal part of the left paddle'. A photograph found in an Owen folio shows the specimen framed but with the entire skull and a more complete basal part of the left paddle. Subsequent searches revealed that the specimen was repaired and conserved in the Palaeontology Laboratory in 1983. The attached notes indicate that the snout was missing at that time and part of the right paddle was dismounted and re-assembled.