Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an early 19th-century British fossil collector, dealer and paleontologist. She earned her living finding and preparing fossils, in the rich Jurassic marine strata at Lyme Regis, Dorset where she lived. She made many important finds. These included the first ichthyosaur skeleton to be correctly identified ("Temnodontosaurus platyodon"); the first two plesiosaur skeletons ever found ("Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus"); the first pterosaur skeleton found outside Germany ("Dimorphodon macronyx"); and some important fish fossils.