fossil of Nevada in 1984. Excavations, begun in 1954 under the direction of Charles Camp and Samuel Welles of the University of California, Berkeley, were continued by Camp throughout the 1960s. It was named by Charles Camp in 1976. The Nevada fossil sites can currently be viewed at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Paleoenvironment Taphonomy The Nevada bonebed represents a large assemblage of Shonisaurus which died at varying times and became preserved on the sea floor in a curiously regular arrangement of bones. The lack of fossil invertebrates encrusting the remains indicates that the carcasses sank in relatively deep water poor in oxygen. See also Largest prehistoric organisms Shastasaurus, a relative of Shonisaurus Temnodontosaurus, another large ichthyosaur List of ichthyosaurs Timeline of ichthyosaur research Notes References Dixon, Dougal. "The Complete Book of Dinosaurs." Hermes House, 2006. Camp, C.L. 1981. Child of the rocks, the story of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology special publication 5. Cowen, R. 1995. History of life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Scientific. External links Nevada Division of State Parks The ICHTHYOSAUR — Nevada's State Fossil. Triassic ichthyosaurs Late Triassic ichthyosaurs of North America Triassic geology of Nevada Fossils of Nevada Taxa named by Charles Lewis Camp Ichthyosauromorph genera