New type of dinosaur uncovered in Montana

ROUNDUP, Mont. – Volunteers here are working this week to uncover what is believed to be a never-before-seen species of sauropod dinosaur, perhaps about twice as old as most dinosaur fossils found in the state.

Malta paleontologist Nate Murphy is leading efforts to remove the bones from private land near the Little Snowy Mountains in central Montana.

The sauropod is kin to long-necked, plant-eaters like the 8-ton, 60-foot Camarasaurus and the larger Brachiosaurus, but with a larger head and shorter neck.

“There’s roughly about two dozen known sauropod skulls on the planet, and we just found another one,” Murphy said.

What’s more, the one found near Roundup is intact, which is rare.

Ranchers stumbled onto the ancient remains about 18 years ago while trekking over a series of rolling, grassy hills. Millennia of hard-driven weather slowly eroded the earth around the bones, raising them to the surface.

For nearly two decades the ranchers did little with the bones. They began poking around the fossil with a backhoe a couple of years ago, and what they saw convinced them to call a friend at the Billings Gem and Mineral Club.

That person put them in touch with Murphy, who heads the Judith River Dinosaur Institute in Malta.

“They took out a few scoops just to see what they had in there, and they hit a lot of bone,” Murphy said.

“It’s just amazing seeing a sauropod skull up close and getting to work near it,” said 19-year-old Evelyn Unger, a volunteer digger who studies biology at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania.

The crew also includes two British paleontology doctoral students and a California accountant, Hal Carroll, who is on his second dig with Murphy.

“It’s a great time to get out for about a week,” he said.

Volunteers have so far uncovered about 20 percent of the fossil, including the neck and skull.

Experts who examined pictures of the sauropod’s vertebra determined the fossil is indeed a new species. The animal was an adult when it died. Its body was shaped like a massive barrel, and it walked on stocky limbs.

The new dinosaur is important for a couple of reasons, said Dave Trexler, paleontologist at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum.

First, the discovery of a sauropod so far north in Montana helps scientists further define the range of these particular Jurassic beasts.

This dinosaur also seems to represent a missing link in the evolution of the sauropods. It is believed to have roamed the earth 150 million years ago, making it about twice as old as most dinosaur skeletons found in the state.