College of Charleston student discovers large sea lizard fossil on school trip
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A College of Charleston student found the skeleton of a large sea lizard, and the condition of the fossil is considered to be 'extraordinary.'
In May, rising senior and geology major Monika Angner was on the college's annual Dinosaur Expedition in the Badlands of Wyoming when she found the skeleton of a mosasaur, a giant marine lizard that swam in prehistoric seas.
Her professor of paleobiology and expedition leader, Scott Persons, recalls the excitement when Angner shouted, 'Dr. Persons, I think I found something BIG!'
According to Persons, mosasaur fossils are not unusual at the field site they were at, but what Angner discovered was more complete than their usual findings.
'Broken vertebrae and teeth are frequently collected, right on the surface. But Monica found what looks to be a nearly complete skull, with the neck, back, limbs, and tail all fully articulated. A skeleton in that good of condition is extraordinary. Plus, it's a contender for the largest mosasaur yet found at the site,' said Persons.
According to Persons' estimation, the sea lizard would have measured over 25 feet in length.
However, the exact size and how complete the specimen is now, along with identifying the particular species of mosasaur it belongs to, are unknown, and questions will have to wait until work on the skeleton is complete, according to the college.
Angner and Person will continue to pick at, clean, and measure the specimen at the College of Charleston's Mace Brown Museum of Natural History. The skull of the creature traveled from the Badlands of Wyoming to the Lowcountry in a protective plaster jacket, the college states.
'It's a tradition in paleontology that, when a really cool specimen is found – one that will require lots of personnel hours over multiple field seasons to fully excavate and lots of lab hours to study – the discoverer gets to give the specimen a nickname,' says Persons.
Angner named the sea lizard Jillian in honor of her sister.
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