Palaeontological excavations have ended in the fossil-rich Strud locality, in which the oldest complete insect fossil was found. It is now time to look back at what was achieved and publish results.

We know a little more today about the disappearance of the ichthyosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. A fascinating study on this subject has been published. It reads like a mystery novel whose ending remains open!

Ichthyosaurs, those marine reptiles of the Mesozoic Era, thrived and diversified over a much longer period than we thought. This has been revealed by the study of the fossil remains of a new species that has been discovered, Malawania anachronus.

It is called Strudiella devonica and, having remained captured in the rock for 365 million years, it has made a dramatic entry to the scientific world as the oldest complete insect fossil ever found.

Whilst everyone had thought that they had – for the greater part – disappeared at the end of the Jurassic era, the ichthyosaurs actually had a much longer life.