Update: As Nick has aptly pointed out, this plesiosaur is going to need a new name. The genus name Nichollsia is occupied by an isopod, arthopods once again trumping prehistoric creatures. I wonder how many times this has happened; I'm sure an interesting review paper could be written if all the changes could be tracked down.
According to a press release issued by the University of Calgary (and adapted for ScienceDaily and redOrbit, with another summary at Palaeoblog), Patrick Druckenmiller and Anthony Russell have just released a paper describing a wonderfully-preserved new genus of Cretaceous plesiosaur named Nichollsia borealis. The creature was named in honor of Elizabeth "Betsy" Nicholls, a graduate of the University of Calgary and a major player in the study of Mesozoic marine reptiles who passed away in 2004.
The fossil itself was found in 1994 near Fort McMurray, Alberta, in a mine owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd. Fortunately, the people working the mine realized the importance of the discovery and contacted paleontologists, allowing the nearly complete skeleton to be dug up and preserved. Discovered in sandstone, Nichollsia is perhaps the oldest known Cretaceous plesiosaur at approximately 112-million years old, perhaps making it one of the "pioneers" of the Western Interior Seaway.
I would love to say more about this fantastic find, but the paper was published in the journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A, and I haven't yet been able to find an online resource to acquire the paper (I've contacted the U of Calgary press office to try and get one, so we'll see if I can bring you all some more details in the near future). I find the lack of access to the research a bit maddening, though. Obviously these researchers spent more than a decade studying this creature, but outside of the press release we can't learn any of the details. The same goes for the paper published last year describing a juvenile diplodocid that I've also tried in vain to obtain (even requests to the authors were not answered - Update: Thanks to Nimravid for sending me the paper!). These finds deserve the attention of the wider community, and I have to say I'm aggravated when studies are not made widely available after they're published. I can understand keeping things hushed up while you're working on a particular specimen or study, but I hope that there is an increasing push to open access to papers so that important work can be recognized and widely discussed rather than be hidden away.
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Brian, if no one has sent you a copy of Schwarz et al.'s paper by the time I get home, I'll send you one. I am 98% sure I have it. :-)
Also, _Nichollsia_ is a preoccupied name for a genus of isopod. :-O
Thanks, Nick. Nimravid sent it over, but I appreciate the assistance!
I wonder how many prehistoric creatures have had their names preoccupied by arthropods. If they could all be tracked down it'd make for a good review paper, I'm sure. I guess this plesiosaur is going to get a new name soon...
OH MY GOD. Juvenile diplodocoid?! Please, please, please send it my way, Brian!
Also, Drunkmiller is Alaska's remaining professional paleontologist. From what I've heard he's a very nice guy, although he lives in Fairbanks at his own free will, so there's always the chance he's insane.
Another question is, why were the authors not able to find out that the name was preoccupied until after they'd published the paper? I suspect that there is not a handy list of all existing names, computerized for easy searching -- but it is high time for one to be put together, even though it'd be a big project. Who's going to fund it? Heck, I'd work on it for minimum wage myself.
You'd think they'd check the literature properly before naming a new genus... it's not that hard to check for synonyms!
I've only heard of Dryptosaurus/Laelaps until now, what other prehistoric/arthropod synonyms are there out there?