Named in memory of Mary Anning (1799–1847), whose discoveries from the age of 12 of marine fossils were catalytic to the recognition of dinosaurs as the giant extinct monsters of antiquity. From early childhood, she and her brother Joseph followed their father in searches for ammonite fossils in the cliffs around Lyme Regis, England. After the death of her father in 1810, fossil hunting became the means of support for the two surviving children and their mother. She discovered the first complete skeleton of the fish-lizard Ichthyosaurus, which aroused great interest as it passed into the hands of fossil collectors and then to the British Museum a few years later. Her other major discoveries include the Plesiosaurus, Pterodactylus and Squaloraja. (M 34619) _ _.