A new genus of plesiosaur from the Cretaceous Period was discovered by machine operators Greg Fisher and Lorne Cundal, some 60 meters deep in a surface mine, in 1994 during routine mining operations at Syncrudes Base Mine, about 35 kilometers north of Fort McMurray near the Athabasca River in the Alberta Oil sands. The specimen is one of the most complete plesiosaurs recovered yet in North America.



Dr.Patrick Druckenmiller, Curator of Earth Sciences at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska. and biological sciences professor Anthony Russell have named the 2.6-metre-long plesiosaur Nichollsia borealis in memory of the late Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls (below), for her accomplishments in paleontology, Nicholls was the Curator of Marine Reptiles at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller (1990-2004) and earned her MSc and PhD degrees at U of C. Nicholls is credit for transforming the understanding of prehistoric ocean life by describing the largest-ever marine reptile, a 23-metre-long ichthyosaur, discovered in northern British Columbia in 1999. She passed away in 2004.



The fossil was transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, where it was prepared for research observations and exhibit and studied by Druckenmiller and Russell. The Nichollsia Borealis existed approximately 112-million years ago. This plesiosaurs lived in the seas at the same time that dinosaurs roamed the land throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods (205 million – 65 million years ago) The discovery of Nichollsia could improve scientists' understanding of the ancient seaway that once divided North America in two. Although not classified as dinosaurs, they were a diverse group of carnivorous aquatic reptiles that reached lengths of over 12 meters. Fossil remains of dozens of plesiosaurs have been recovered around the world since the early 1800s and are among the first fossil vertebrates to be scientifically described.



“This specimen was preserved in sandstone and was not crushed as much as most specimens, which have typically been found in shale,” Druckenmiller explained. "This individual was a pioneer in the marine waters that would eventually become the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway," Druckenmiller said in a statement. “Because of this, I was able to have its three-dimensional skull CT-scanned so we can see the details of the insides of its braincase. This has helped us understand this animal in more detail than almost any other plesiosaur ever found.” The research appeared in the German journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A. The Nichollsia specimen is currently on display in the Discoveries Gallery at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta.




This particular discovery and research is interesting for me because the specimen Nichollsia borealis is related somehow to the one that Mr. Alexander Laime and I Saw and I pictured over one of the lakes on top of the Lost World plateaus, specially because it matches the size and features like the “pointed head" and the short Tail that Mr. Laime reported to me and also draw as shown in the previous post:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/838200/an/0/page/1#838200

I would like to congratulate Dr. Patrick Druckenmiller and Professor Anthony Russell for their researh on this specimen, also to the Syncrude Canada LTD and their workers for treating this specimen with care and to contribute in its preservation, also I would like dedicate this post to Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls, who was a renowned palaeontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, and the former leading marine reptile palaeontologist in Canada.

Sources:
Syncrude Canada LTD.
Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller,Alberta
Paints: DL Sloan
Fox News

Hello, I am another one of those people that like to collect and look for fossils, I'll bet that the folks that found this will never forget it. Still, I wish them the ability to outdo themselves. Kevin.