Two Dinosaur Species Have Been Excavated in Massachusetts


As the SouthCoast settles down from recent bear sightings, it might be a good time to tell you about the dinosaurs that used to roam what are now the highways and byways of pre-historic Massachusetts.

Smithsonian Magazine says that while there may have been others, “only two dinosaur species have been excavated in Massachusetts: Podokesaurus holyokensis and Anchisauris polyzelus.”

Massachusetts lawmakers declared Podokesaurus holyokensis the “official state dinosaur” in February of 2021, according to MassLive.com.

The site says, “After 35,000 total votes were cast in an online poll, the dinosaur was crowned the winner in a virtual event hosted by the Museum of Science on February 4,” 2021.

Smithsonian Magazine says Podokesaurus holyokensis was a “mid-Jurassic-era dino with a ‘light and delicate frame’ that likely weighed in at 90 pounds and measured about three to six feet in length.”

The geologist Mignon Talbot discovered the first fossil near Mt. Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1910. The full name Podokesaurus holyokensis can be translated as “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke.”

The fossil is believed to be between 201 and 190 million years old.

Anchisauris polyzelus remains, believed to be between 200 and 195 million years old, were discovered in East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1818 by Solomon Ellsworth Jr. while excavating a well.

Thirty-seven years later, in 1855, William Smith discovered another Anchisauris polyzelus fossil while blasting for a water house for an armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. In both cases, the fossils were damaged by the blasting.

Anchisauris polyzelus was a smaller dinosaur, perhaps six and a half feet long and weighing about 60 pounds.

Anchisaurus by Nobu Tamura / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Podokesaurus added in)

Podokesaurus restoration by FunkMonk / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Added into Anchisaurus photo)

Quiz: Do you know your state insect?

Stacker has used a variety of sources to compile a list of the official state insect(s) of each U.S. state, as well as their unique characteristics. Read on to see if you can guess which insect(s) represent your state. 

LOOK: Stunning animal photos from around the world

From grazing Tibetan antelope to migrating monarch butterflies, these 50 photos of wildlife around the world capture the staggering grace of the animal kingdom. The forthcoming gallery runs sequentially from air to land to water, and focuses on birds, land mammals, aquatic life, and insects as they work in pairs or groups, or sometimes all on their own.

window.twttr = (function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
t = window.twttr || {};
if (d.getElementById(id)) return t;
js = d.createElement(s);
js.id = id;
js.src = “https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
t._e = [];
t.ready = function(f) {
t._e.push(f);
};
return t;
}(document, “script”, “twitter-wjs”));
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, “script”, “facebook-jssdk”));



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *