Diapsid Collection (#15)

Diplodocus foot
Detail of the replica diplodocus skeleton on display at the Natural History Museum. The three inner toes of the back foot had sharp claws which may have acted as an anti-slip device

Apatosaurus, previously known as Brontosaurus
A solid pillar-like femur, or thigh bone that once supported the 20 to 30 tonne dinosaur, Apatosaurus. This specimen is 1.5 metres long

Brachiosaur back vertebra
A specimen of a back vertebra that once belonged to a dinosaur from the Brachiosauridae family. This family of dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous period

Protoceratops eggshell
Fossilized Protoceratops eggshell that was discovered in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. They date back to around 100 million years ago to the Upper Cretaceous period. Protoceratops was a herbivore

Caprimulgus carolinensis, chuck-wills widow
Plate 52 from John James Audubons Birds of America, original double elephant folio (1827-30), hand-coloured aquatint. Engraved, printed and coloured by R. Havell (& Son), London

Edmontonia
The collar plates that once belonged to Edmontonia, the armoured herbivorous dinosaur that lived 76 to 78 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous. Fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada

Ichthyosaur, Stenopterygius quadriscissus (Quenstedt) close-
This Ichthyosaur has been preserved with the broken-up skeletons of the unborn young inside. A fourth may have just been born - its skeleton can be seen below her tail

Baryonyx excavations
Team from the Natural History Museum, London at work on the excavation of the dinosaur Baryonyx walkeri at the Ockley brick pit in Surrey, England in June 1983

Dimorphodon macronyx
The fossil skull and lower jaw belonging to Dimorphodon macronyx. It was a giant flying reptile, or Pterosaur that lived during the Lower Jurassic period

Megalosaurus thigh bone
A human thigh-bone figured as item 4 on TAB VIII by Dr. R Plot in The Natural History of Oxfordshire in 1677 is actually a dinosaur thigh-bone, probably Megalosaurus

Gasosaurus was a flesh-eating bipedal dinosaur which lived during the middle Jurassic, about 160 mya. It was up to 4 metres long and 2 metres high with short arms

Megalosaurus jaw
A fragment of a lower jaw that once belonged to the carnivorous dinosaur Megalosaurus. Throughout a dinosaurs life young teeth pushed up to replace old teeth

Iguanodon ischium
Close-up of a ischium, or hip-bone that belonged to the Iguanodon. It was discovered in Sussex and dates back to around 140 to 110 million years ago

Albertosaurus metatarsals
Skeletal reconstruction of Albertosaurus showing the hind leg and foot. The upper foot bones of this Albertosaurus are locked together for strength, perhaps to withstand the stresses of running

Dinosaur footprint
Fossil footprints belonging to a three toed dinosaur (Tridactyl)

Iguanodon model
An Iguanodon model made during the 1940s from a reconstruction by Vernon Edward based on the Bernissart skeletons showing Iguanodon in a strictly two-legged kangaroo-like posture

Iguanodon model 1854
A 1/20 life size model of the dinosaur Iguanodon created by Waterhouse Hawkins in 1854 under the the supervision of Professor Sir Richard Owen. The model measures 40cm

A fantasy illustration of pre-historic reptiles
Illustration entitled The Age of Reptiles, by John Martin for Geology for Beginners by G. F. Richardson (1842)

Chiggers, larvae of trombiculid mites
Lizards have pockets within their skin where chiggers accumulate. These pockets offer ideal living conditions. Each pocket has thick walls that repair quickly

Snake skin

Varanus gouldii, Goulds monitor
Plate 151 from Natural History of Victoria (1887) by Sir Frederick McCoy

Varanus eremius and Varanus gilleri
Rusty desert monitor (Varanus eremius) and pigmy mulga monitor (Varanus gilleri). Plate 8 from Report of the Horn Expedition to Central Australia (1896)

Lacerta viridis, green lizard
Plate 38 from Proc. Zoological Society London, 1884 of various views of a green lizard. Held in the Zoology Library at the Natural History Museum, London

Pentalinon luteum, hammock vipers tail
Illustration by Mark Catesby (1683-1749) from Type Specimens of plants named by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Tyrannosaurus rex with Triceratops, Upper Cretaceous dinosau
Model of the animatronic scavenger T. rex manufactured by Kokoro Dreams, Tokyo. T. rex The Killer Question exhibition at The Natural History Museum, London

Saurornitholestes
Model of the fast moving Saurornitholestes manufactured by Kokoro Dreams, Tokyo. In T. rex The Killer Question exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London

Saurornitholestes, Upper Cretaceous dinosaur
Model of the fast moving Saurornitholestes manufactured by Kokoro Dreams, Tokyo. T. rex The Killer Question exhibition at The Natural History Museum, London

Dinosaurs Gallery
A wide-angle view of the Natural History Museums Dinosaur Galery

Tyrannosaurus rex skull
Skull of the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur, on display in From the Beginning, Gallery 63, Earth Galleries at The Natural History Museum, London. Tyrannosaurus rex lived 67 to 65 million years ago

Ophthalmosaurus icenius, ichthyosaur
Close up of the eye socket of an extinct marine reptile from the Middle Jurassic (161-157 million years ago) on display in the Central Hall at the Natural History Museum, London

Ichthyosaurus communis, ichthyosaur
Close up of the jaw of an ichthyosaur specimen on display at The Natural History Museum, London. Specimen collected by Mary Anning

Reptile specimens in the Darwin Centre
Various reptile specimens stored in spirit in the Darwin Centre, at the Natural History Museum, London

Crocodilus niloticus, Nile crocodile eggs
The Natural History Museums collections include examples of earlier life history stages as well as adults, and these are also preserved in spirit

Tropidolaemus wagleri, green pit viper
Also known as the temple viper or Waglers pit viper. It is a tree dwelling snake found in South-east Asia. Specimen held at the Natural History Museum, London

Diplodocus carnegiei, 1905
Thirty-six crates containing the replica diplodocus skeleton arrived in London in December 1904. The Director of the Carnegie Museum, where the original is located

Man wearing snake, 1930s
This young man, possibly a junior member of the Zoology Department, is posing with a king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) that presumably had just arrived at the Museum

Woman with dinosaur models, 1926
Miss Hilda Bather, daughter of Francis Arthur Bather, Keeper of Geology, offered this set of seven dinosaur models for sale from her premises, the Craft Shop at Bognor Regis, Sussex

Girl with dinosaur bone, 1920s
In the Fossil Reptile gallery, this young woman holds a yardstick against a cast of the right humerus or upper arm bone of Tornieria africana, named in 1911 after German palaeontologist

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