The Plesiosaur Directory

[DinoToyForum]

Did I never plug my plesiosaur website here before!?



I've given it an overhaul recently to make it simpler to maintain and update. There's still a long way to go before it becomes what I set out to achieve when I launched it waaaaaay back in 2001. But the changes I've made to the back end are a significant step in the right direction. And it is mobile friendly now. I'd welcome any feedback although I know there are lots of dead links and empty/partial pages that need fixing, so I'm more interested in general feedback at this stage rather than any specific problems you may encounter.

Also, here is a recent blog article I wrote:
http://plesiosauria.com/the-university-of-british-columbias-new-elasmosaurus/

[Ezikot]

it looks really good and user friendly.
it seems to me it's a website for scholars but also for amateurs... i guess it's not an easy balance to achieve.

i know you've just asked for a general feedback, but...
about "References", i would like if you could search by year and/or author and/or topic;
"Fiction" is obviously still a work in progress, but it could be a really interesting section imho.

 

[DinoToyForum]

it looks really good and user friendly.
it seems to me it's a website for scholars but also for amateurs... i guess it's not an easy balance to achieve.

i know you've just asked for a general feedback, but...
about "References", i would like if you could search by year and/or author and/or topic;
"Fiction" is obviously still a work in progress, but it could be a really interesting section imho.

Thanks for the feedback. Exactly, it's for everyone, but mostly for me.

I really need to think about how I construct the references section. I suppose the only way to make the references filterable (using Wordpress, which is the CMS I've opted to use for practical reasons) is to put each reference on a separate page, and to categorise each page by date, author, etc. I also want each citation on the website to automatically link to the appropriate reference. It is probably beyond my technical ability. But maybe I can find a way.

[Sim]

I've found The Plesiosaur Directory an invaluable resource that's helpful and informative, a number of times over the years.  Thanks, @dinotoyforum!

Some things I especially appreciate learning from it are:
1. How the species name for Thalassomedon has sometimes been spelt incorrectly.  I've seen "hanningtoni" in a few places.
2. What the known skeletal remains for Elasmosaurus are.

I had intended to look at a page about Styxosaurus, but I see the website doesn't have a page for it currently.  I'll start a new topic for what I'm wondering about.

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks, Sim, glad you find it useful. Yes, I still need to create a Syxosaurus page. I have all the resources to do it, just not the time/energy.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, Sim, glad you find it useful. Yes, I still need to create a Syxosaurus page. I have all the resources to do it, just not the time/energy.

Man, aren't those just the scarcest resources, though?

[DinoToyForum]

I wrote a 'plesiosaur bites' article inspired by the discussion about plesiosaur humps in the CollectA new for 2021 thread: https://plesiosauria.com/did-plesiosaurs-have-the-hump/

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, that was interesting! I also was not previously aware of Morenosaurus, and I'm unreasonably miffed that its name is so similar to Muraenosaurus.

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks, that was interesting! I also was not previously aware of Morenosaurus, and I'm unreasonably miffed that its name is so similar to Muraenosaurus.

It's pure coincidence. Moreno after Moreno County, California, and Muraeno after the moray eel, if memory serves. I'm gonna have to check that now...

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks, that was interesting! I also was not previously aware of Morenosaurus, and I'm unreasonably miffed that its name is so similar to Muraenosaurus.

It's pure coincidence. Moreno after Moreno County, California, and Muraeno after the moray eel, if memory serves. I'm gonna have to check that now...

Yep, I was right, it's amazing what useless information we store up in our heads!

[Halichoeres]

Thanks, that was interesting! I also was not previously aware of Morenosaurus, and I'm unreasonably miffed that its name is so similar to Muraenosaurus.

It's pure coincidence. Moreno after Moreno County, California, and Muraeno after the moray eel, if memory serves. I'm gonna have to check that now...

Yep, I was right, it's amazing what useless information we store up in our heads!

I still remember my high school girlfriend's phone number. These etymologies are less useless than that!

[DinoToyForum]

I wrote an article on my blog. It touches on the Invicta Liopleurodon model.
https://plesiosauria.com/the-stewartby-pliosaur-and-the-1967-liopleurodon-reconstruction/

[Libraraptor]

An interesting read, thank you!

[ITdactyl]

Thank you for the quality read.
I'm a bit embarrassed that my brain still associates the name Liopleurodon with a very dated reconstruction. It doesn't help that any spotlight mainstream media shines on prehistoric aquatic reptiles is usually hogged by mosasaurs.

I'm hoping the coming years will bring documentaries covering marine reptiles that's in the same league as (or better than) 2007's "Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure".  That show made me appreciate polycotilids, a group I wouldn't have paid attention to without that visual push.
And maybe Dr Admin can be the onboard expert.

[Halichoeres]

That's an interesting and convoluted tale. Thanks for pulling all those threads!

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks for reading it, and appreciating it, it's alway nice to know someone is!

[Fembrogon]

That was a good read, and yet another reminder of how much our understanding in these fields can end up being taken for granted without someone properly (re)proving it.

[DinoToyForum]

I've added a new page to the site showing a feed of my recent Mastodon posts: https://plesiosauria.com/mastodon-feed/

On Twitter I had separate accounts for Dinosaur Toy Blog, Animal Toy Blog, and personal stuff, but on Mastodon I decided to simplify and merge it all together under one umbrella. So, since I use my Mastodon for Dinosaur Toy Blog posts, maybe I should add a similar feed page to dinotoyblog.com?

[DinoToyForum]

I've added a Nakonanectes page: https://plesiosauria.com/nakonanectes/

[DinoToyForum]

And, finally, Styxosaurus! https://plesiosauria.com/styxosaurus/