He wrote five papers about the extinct animal, naming it a Proteosaurus, and published them with an accompanying scientific illustration, writes Science’s Jack Tamisiea.It captivated scientists and the public alike, helping to grow the field of paleontology.While searching for ichthyosaurs in a collection at Yale University’s Peabody Museum, they stumbled across the plaster cast of a dusty crocodile-like specimen.This illustration (top) was the only evidence we had, until now... pic.twitter.com/iDABNTvSTv“Once I returned back to the U.K., then it struck me: This is a cast of the original [ichthyosaur] specimen,” he tells BBC News.After hearing of the new paper, German paleontologist Martin Sander of the University of Bonn tells the Times that he believes he knows of another ichthyosaur cast."