Dallasaurus turneri : the missing link ?

[tocqueville]

Prehistoric Lizard Called Historic Link By MATT CURRY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 16, 9:09 PM ET

DALLAS - Amateur fossil hunter Van Turner felt certain he had found something important during his search of earth turned up by bulldozers making way for a new subdivision in Dallas County.

Sixteen years later, scientists finally confirmed that Turner had discovered the first well preserved early mosasaur found in North America — a prehistoric lizard that lived 92 million years ago that evolved into what some call the "T. Rex of the ocean."

"Science marches slowly, and my biggest fear all along has been that another specimen of the same animal would be found, and it would be described, and I would lose any first claim to it," said Turner, an Internet technology manager in the Central Texas town of Mason. "That never happened, and it kind of reassured the rarity of the animal."

The reptile, now known as Dallasaurus turneri, is identified in a special issue of the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences published this month. The article was written by paleontologists Michael Polcyn of Southern Methodist University and Gordon Bell Jr. of Guadalupe National Park.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051117/ap_on_sc/dallasaurus

[Celebration]

1. what a great story!!

Fiorillo and Polcyn said Turner's find, made at Cedar Hill south of Dallas, highlights the importance of contributions made by amateur fossil hunters to science.

"This just goes to show you that what you want is a lot of people looking for stuff," Turner said. "You want them to be able to recognize important finds or have the people who can do it."

One of my very favorite (and surprising) places I have visited is not far from there in Glen Rose, Texas. You can read about it here--

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/dinosaur_valley/

Great place to take kids. Someone put up a creationism museum near there.....weird......I didn't go so don't know how they explained away the dinosaur tracks. This seems to be the heart of fundamentalist country and I think the county is completely dry--at least we couldn't find beer anywhere!! Another favorite place from that trip was the Nimitz museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. That place was settled by Germans and definitely NOT dry.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/admiral_nimitz/