new genus of pleasiasaur found

[newbloodmoon]

Despite the occasional sitings about aquatic cryptids such as Nessie in Loch Ness, or Champ in Lake Champlaine there doesn't seem to be much buzz about really old and really cool aquatic creatures. So here are two that are of interest in case you want to get a bit of something other then the usual fair of dinosauria.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2008) — One of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils recovered in North America, and the oldest yet discovered from the Cretaceous Period, represents a new genus of the prehistoric aquatic predator according to University of Calgary palaeontologists who have formally described the creature after its remains were uncovered in a Syncrude Canada Ltd. mine near Fort McMurray in 1994. In a paper published in the German research journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A, former U of C graduate student Patrick Druckenmiller and biological sciences professor Anthony Russell have named the 2.6-metre-long plesiosaur Nichollsia borealis in memory of the late Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls.*

The fossil was discovered by machine operators Greg Fisher and Lorne Cundal in 1994 during routine mining operations at Syncrude’s Base Mine, about 35 kilometres north of Fort McMurray near the Athabasca River. Amazingly, the specimen was serendipitously exposed by one of Syncrude’s 100-ton electric shovels approximately 60 metres below ground surface. It is complete except for its left forelimb and shoulder blade. It was transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, where it was prepared for research observations and exhibit and studied by Druckenmiller and Russell.

For the complete article below

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/...80320104100.htm

and a bonus story for those who like terrors of the deep.

Jurassic Crocodile Is Unearthed From Blue Mountains In Eastern Oregon

ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2007) — An ancient sea-going crocodile has surfaced from the rocks of Crook County in eastern Oregon. Really.

It's discovery by the North American Research Group (NARG), whose members were digging for Jurassic-age mollusks known as ammonites, is another confirmation that the Blue Mountains consist of rocks that traveled from somewhere in the Far East, says retired University of Oregon geologist William Orr, who was called in to examine the find for the state.

The remains - about 50 percent of a 6- to 8-foot reptile, including long, needlepoint teeth - were found imbedded in Jurassic rock on private property in the Snowshoe Formation of the Izee Terrane south of Dayville, Ore. Rocks containing the fossils were slowly cut out of the rock, after NARG members realized that the linear appearance of the fossils in the region's hard rocks suggested that a whole creature had been found, Orr said.

The whole story go visit here.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/...70319112538.htm

Edited October 2, 2008 by newbloodmoon