Poached Again, Dammit

Hey, I recognize that plastic!

This past week Mike and Jacob returned to Kansas to do some field work, and were reminded by the heat and lack of breeze exactly why we don't usually go back till fall. They scouted some outcrops near where we discovered the poached Protosphyraena fin earlier this year. About 1/4 mile south of that site, Jacob spotted a sliver of blue plastic coming out of the outcrop... again.

View from the site

It was haphazardly covered with about 1 foot of loose chalk and had appeared to have been excavated about 2 years ago judging from the size of the plants growing in the talus. As with the last poaching attempt, the site was nearly completely excavated down to the bone layer before it was abandoned/re-covered. I have the distinct feeling these poachers may be headhunters.

Critter just prior to jacketing

After exposing it,the site turned out to be a sorta jumbled Xiphactinus coming out tail first. There may or may not be skull bits present. Our crew made short work of the specimen and took it out in 3 jackets. After that, the thermometer hit 109 degrees before lunch and it was time to get the proverbial hell out of Dodge. I think hunting out there will be better in about a month. Especially with someone out there finding and pre-excavating specimens for us.

The Coelacanths of Kansas

Most everyone is aware of the story of the "living fossil" fish, the coelacanth. One was caught off the coast of Africa in the 1930s, surprising everyone since they were thought to have gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period along with the dinosaurs. Today there is but one genus left, Latimeria. They are strange animals, even for people experienced in working with fish.

Cast of the extant coelacanth Latimeria in the RMDRC

We recovered and prepared 2 specimens of the giant coelacanth Megalocoelacanthus from western Kansas in the past decade. As far as I know they are the only two examples of this big coelacanth ever recovered from the Niobrara chalk. The first specimen was excavated from the lower chalk around MU5 (Coniacian age) is fairly complete, and will be our basis for a 3d reconstruction of the skull and body. The second specimen was a fragmented left lower jaw found in the upper chalk, under MU20, putting it early Campanian in age. We used the coronoid from this specimen in our reconstruction to replace the missing one from the first.

About 20% of the skull material found with our first Megalocoelacanthus

Someone once said "go big or go home". We're taking that to heart as our first reconstruction will consist of a 3d skull on a panel-mounted restoration of the body. We're basing the postcranial skeleton heavily on Latimeria, since we only have a few parts of the pectoral and dorsal fins. Coelacanths don't have ossified vertebrae (or ribs for that matter) meaning skulls and fins are about all you are ever going to find.

RMDRC sculptor Mary working on our prototype

Our specimen is truly going to be a giant, coming in at about 9 feet 4 inches (3m) in length. As far as I can tell this will also be the very first restoration attempt of Megalocoelacanthus. Of course we'll be molding the thing, so hopefully it can be placed in museums worldwide. Ours isn't the largest specimen ever found, but it sure seems it is by far the most complete.