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Re: Coelophysis
On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Chris Nedin wrote:
> > Hi! We are two sixth grade students. We are hoping to know who found
> >the first Coelophysis and where it was found? Was it a full skeleton?
> >Was it an adult or child? Is it in good condition? When was it found? Is
> >it on display in a museum? Were there any eggs in the area? Are there any
> >e-mail addresses to the museum?
> I think that they were first found in 1947 by Edwin Colbert from the
> American Museum of Natural History. A mass of skeletons were found at
> Ghoast Ranch, New Mexico, probably the result of a flash flood. Sizes
> ranged form hatchlings to adults, some complete, others torn apart. I do
> not think any eggs were found.
The Ghost Ranch site was the best, but not the first, Coelophysis source.
An expedition led by Edwin Colbert did indeed find a great deal of
material there - the first bits were picked up by George Whitaker, and
Colbert recognized them as Coelophysis.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta now has some of those fossils. The
New Mexico Museum of Natural History uses Coelophysis as their logo - I
bet they have some. And there is now a display at Ghost Ranch itself.
The FIRST Coelophysis goes back to an 1881 find by David Baldwin, a
collector then working for Edward Drinker Cope. It came from Rio Arriba,
NM. Cope originally described it as a new Coelurus species in 1887, but
changed his mind later in the year. In 1889 he published a description
under the name Coelophysis.
The original find consisted of leg bones, vertebrae, pelvic bones, and
rib fragments. It is not stated that it was juvenile, so it was probably
adult. From the description, I doubt very much that any of that original
material was of display quality.
My authority here is David A.E. Spalding's DINOSAUR HUNTERS; having read
it a couple of days ago, it was easy to locate the information!
** Steve Jackson - yes, of SJ Games - yes, we won the USSS case - fnord **
yes, INWO is out - http://io.com/sjgames/ - dinosaurs, Lego, Kahlua!