Forgotten fossil is new species of ichthyosaur
A fossil stored in a Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery for 30 years, and mistaken for a plaster copy, has turned out to be a new species of ancient reptile.
Palaeontologist Dean Lomax, who was working with the museum and the University of Manchester, found the fossil in the museum collections.
He realised that it was the 189 million year old remains of an ichthyosaur - an extinct marine reptile.
Here, he tells BBC News how further study confirmed the forgotten fossil to be a previously unknown species.
Video journalist: Victoria Gill
19 Feb 2015
- From the section Science & Environment