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'Rare 3D' Dorset plesiosaur fossil fetches 拢90k at auction

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Fossilised plesiosaur skeletonImage source, Summers Place Auctions
Image caption,

The fossil had been expected to fetch up to 拢30,000

The fossilised skeleton of a plesiosaur discovered on the Jurassic Coast has sold at auction for more than 拢90,000.

The fossil of the extinct marine reptile, found at Lyme Regis, Dorset, is 90% complete.

Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, said it was "very rare" to find such a well-preserved plesiosaur.

It was expected to fetch up to 拢30,000 but sold for 拢92,280.

In 1823, the first complete skeleton of a plesiosaur was discovered in Lyme Regis by famous fossil hunter Mary Anning.

Rupert van der Werff, from the auction house, said: "It is very rare to find a plesiosaur preserved in 3D, most that come up for sale are on fossilised plates.

"This is the best of its kind that I have seen as it is about 90% complete.

"Plesiosaurs are pretty rare, even on the Jurassic Coast - you are a hundred times more likely to find an ichthyosaur than a plesiosaur."

The creature, which had a long neck and paddle-like limbs, lived in the early part of the Jurassic Period about 182 to 185 million years ago.

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