National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Volume 6, Number 2 Park Paleontology Summer 2002 Geologic Resources Division, Paleontology Program Master’s thesis involves the description of a new Table of Contents National Park Service skeleton of the aetosaur Desmatosuchus National Park Service Welcomes Three haplocerus from Northern Arizona [editor’s New Paleontologists ............................. 1 Welcomes Three New note, see Park Paleontology 6(1)]. Bill says, “I Paleontologists guess that one could consider it fate that I study aetosaurs. I was born in New Haven, Fossil Walrus Skull Found on the Outer Connecticut and spent the first 6 years of my Banks near Cape Hatteras ...................... 2 The ranks of paleontologists in the NPS has life just “down the street” from a historical been recently increased by three, bringing the quarry that produced the first aetosaur skeleton The Occurrence and Distribution of Fossil total number to 15. known from the eastern United States.” His Shells on U.S. mid-Atlantic Beaches .........3 interest in fossils was kindled by repeated visits Phil Gensler – Hagerman Fossil Beds to the Yale Peabody Museum to see the dino- California Dinosaur Tracks: Inventory saurs when he was a kid and he is still in posses- and Management .................................. 5 Phil was hired as Hagerman Fossil Beds National sion of his first (and only) self-authored dino- Monument’s (HAFO) staff paleontologist in May saur “book”, a ragtag assortment of several Can you identify the fossil ....................8 2002. Originally from northwestern Pennsylva- drawings that he created and painstakingly nia, Phil received a B.A. in Environmental Sci- taped together when he was about 7 years old. Recent Literature on Park Paleontology Resources ............................................. 9 ence with a Geology minor from Edinboro Uni- Unfortunately the first portion of his paleonto- versity of Pennsylvania in 1994. He then worked logical career came to an end as he “outgrew” as a County Technician at Crawford County his dinosaur fever. Conservation District issuing permits relating to duties have expanded. While at the park he has construction encroachments of wetlands, lakes, After high school Bill had no real interest in excavated several significant specimens includ- and streams. In 1996 Phil started his graduate attending college and instead went to work in ing another aetosaur skeleton, as well as several work at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, the hospitality industry. After several years of partial phytosaurs. Arizona in the Quaternary Sciences Program. He managing kitchens in restaurants he felt the call is completing his Masters and his thesis describes to return to school. At first torn between Besides his Triassic work he has also worked in the mid-Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from the archaeology and geology/paleontology he the Late Cretaceous of Utah, doing a paleonto- Coyote Badlands in Anza-Borrego Desert State decided to spend a summer doing each. In logical inventory for the Manti-LaSal National Park, California. 1996 he spent two months in the country of Forest. His fieldwork and research has taken Belize excavating Maya sites on the western him all over Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Phil has worked as a seasonal museum techni- border. He is probably one of the few verte- and even Mexico where he has done some cian at HAFO during the 1998 and 1999 field brate paleontologists whose first dig was of Pleistocene work. His future goals involve not seasons and as a physical scientist from 2000 – Homo sapiens. Then in 1997 he spent two only finishing his work on the aetosaur but 2001. Also, during 2001 he was acting Park weeks in the Hell Creek Formation excavating eventually to pursue a Ph.D. Paleontologist at HAFO. In addition to his work Triceratops material and investigating a sizeable in Anza-Borrego and at HAFO he has been hadrosaur bone bed. Needless to say, although Matthew Smith – John Day Fossil Beds involved in Pliocene and Pleistocene-aged verte- he greatly enjoyed both experiences, paleontol- brate paleontology projects throughout Ari- ogy won out. Growing up surrounded by the fossil-rich wa- zona, Idaho, California, Nevada, and northern terways of North Florida, Matt developed an Mexico. While searching for a senior thesis topic during early interest in the ancient and modern biota his undergraduate studies at Northern Arizona of his home state. In 1992 he decided to Bill Parker - Petrified Forest University in 1998 his advisor mentioned a pursue a Zoology degree at the University of partial reptile (aetosaur) skeleton from the Florida, Gainesville. Other than a brief foray Bill is the new paleontologist at Petrified Forest Chinle Formation of Arizona and thought it into the world of entomology with the Agricul- National Park. Born in New Haven, Connecticut would be great experience to excavate the ture Department, he restricted his movements he completed his B.S. in Geology/Paleontology couple of bones and write up a description. as much as possible to the halls of the Florida at Northern Arizona University in 1999, and is The few bones turned into over two hundred Museum of Natural History and the buildings nearing completion of his M.S. in Geology, also with a relatively complete skeleton being immediately adjacent. While lurking about he at Northern Arizona University. present and his senior thesis turned into a discovered that the arcane field of fossil prepa- Masters, along with a love for the late Triassic ration was the only sensible avenue of study Bill says that being able to do paleontology at Period. In May, 2001 Bill was hired by Petrified within the greater world of Paleontology, being Petrified Forest National Park is a dream come Forest National Park to conduct a paleontologi- that the preparation laboratory was where they true since his main interests in the field are the cal inventory of the park and he is still conduct- kept the coffee maker. After earning his Bach- archosaurian reptiles of the Late Triassic. His ing surveys although in his present position the elors, he headed to the Smithsonian Institution continued on page 2 Park Paleontology 1 Three New NPS Paleontologists Phil Gensler in the collections at Hagerman Fossil Bill Parker excavating an aetosaur skeleton at Matt Smith in the lab at John Day Fossil Beds Beds with a shell of a fossil turtle. Petrified Forest National Park. puzzling over one of the latest finds. in Washington DC to build supportive fiberglass Further Reading and plaster jackets for some of their oversized Fossil Walrus Skull Found fossils due to be shipped to their new facility on the Outer Banks near Deméré, T. A. 1994. The Family Odobenidae, a Maryland. In secret he kept close watch on the phylogenetic analysis of fossil and living taxa. In, masterful preparators employed there, and Cape Hatteras Berta, A. and T. A. Deméré (eds.), Contributions in dared to dream that he could one day apply Marine Mammal Paleontology Honoring Frank C. some of their techniques to fossils outside of a Whitmore, Jr. Proceedings of the San Diego Society crowded, metropolitan setting. He came close Doug Stover of Natural History 29: 99-123. to realizing this idle reverie when he traveled to Cultural Resource Manger La Paz, Bolivia to assist the staff at el Museo Cape Hatteras National Seashore Fay, F.H., 1981. Walrus Odobenus rosmarus Nacional del Historie Natural in mounting the Route 1, Box 675 (Linnaeus, 1758). pp. 1-23. In S.H. Ridgway and skeleton of Eurygenium pacenium, a rather Manteo, NC 27954-2708 R.J. Harrison, eds., Handbook of Marine Mammals. unusual Notohippid. While there, he was also Vol. 1. Academic Press, London. lucky enough to go and work for a few short In 1990, a park visitor to Cape Hatteras Na- days at the beautiful field locality of Salla, fa- tional Seashore came across an ancient walrus Miller, R.F. 1997. New records and AMS radiocar- mous for some of the earliest primate fossils in skull washed up on the beach in Salvo, North bon dates on Quaternary walrus (Odobenus South America. Returning from Bolivia in May Carolina. National Park Service rangers acquired rosmarus) from New Brunswick. Géographie of 1998, and at a loss for what to do next, he the walrus skull and sent the specimen to the physique et Quaternaire 51(1): p. 1-5. applied for seasonal employment at John Day Smithsonian Institution where it has been Fossil Beds National Monument as a laboratory analyzed and preserved since 1990. David Riggs, S.R., W.J. Cleary and S.W. Snyder. 1995. technician. One thing led to another, and four Bohaska, Museum Specialist at the Smithsonian Influence of inherited geologic framework on years latter he was offered a permanent posi- Institution has been studying the walrus skull, barrier shoreface morpholoy and dynamics. tion as a full time preparator. In this way his and has determined that the skull is one of the Marine Geology 126:213-234. musings while in Washington came full circle, best specimens found. The walrus skull was and he now works and resides in the wilds of largely intact except for missing its two tusks. the beautiful John Day River Basin. The Walrus Skull has been returned to Cape Hatteras National Seashore to be placed on exhibit at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Mu- seum, Hatteras, North Carolina. What is a Notohippid? The National Park Foundation has provided funding to obtain a carbon 14 date on the skull in order to try and determine its exact age. The skull is currently at Stafford Re- A distinctive group of hoofed mammals search Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado evolved in South America called the where a sample from the tusk is being re- notoungulates. They ranged in size from small rabbit-like forms to the massive moved for analysis.