In 1975, three 14-year-old boys were playing on the side of the road in western Colorado. They found some bones not knowing exactly what type, they told their schoolteacher.
What the students didn't know is that they discovered and unknown specimen. Their teacher Dick Jones helped to save the specimen from the destruction of backhoes.
Found were the skull and over a dozen vertebrate. Now found in the BYU Earth Science Museum.
After recovering the bones, Jones contacted BYU paleontologist Jim Jensen, the then curator of the Earth Science Museum.
Michael Krass, then a graduate student at BYU, prepped and described it as a new species-Prognathodon stadmani. He named it in honor of BYU paleontologist Ken Stadtman. (somehow include how it was misnamed and will be renamed soon).
Prognathodon is a mosasaur, which is a giant marine reptile that roamed the Cretaceous seas more than 82 million years ago.
"They are big varanid lizards," said Rodney Scheetz, curator at the Earth Science Museum. "They are like the sharks of their day."
Mosasaurs are about 34 feet in length and have long slender bodies with large hands and feet that are used as paddles. They are closely related to Indonesia's Komodo Dragon.
The adult skull at the Earth Science museum is 4 feet long. The actual bones weigh about 150 pounds and are found in a clear display case. A cast of the jawbones is above the case to show what they would look like in real life.
Visitors may notice the large gouges in the mandible, the lower jawbone, indicated by small yellow-dot stickers. These gouges are said to be tooth scars from "jaw wrestling."
"There is a pattern on the jaws," said cheetz. "We've seen it in several of the species."
It is suggested that the round shape of the scars indicate that the injuries were infected.
The sea lizard continuously stuns visitors of all ages.
"Children come in and they are amazed," said Melissa Springer, communications assistant at the museum. " I'm the same way. I say to myself, 'that's crazy that they [the species] once lived here."
The remainder of the skeleton is in the hands of Rob Gaston, founder and owner of Gaston Designs, a company that pieces and casts bones together. Gaston is working to piece the entire vertebrate together. Once completed, Scheetz hopes to mount it in the Eyring Science Center.
Gaston says he hopes to have the project completed and ready for BYU spring of 2007.
" What is most important to us is that these 14-year-old kids knew enough to tell their teacher," said Scheetz. "This led to the discovery of a new species."
Copyright Brigham Young University 3 Oct 2006
