New Mexico Earth Matters — Back-issues

Many of us are aware that the State of New Mexico has a state gemstone (Turquoise), a state flower (Yucca), a state bird (Roadrunner), and even a state question (Red or Green?). But how many know that New Mexico also has an official state fossil? And that this particular fossil is one of the scientifically best-known and most important dinosaurs in the world? New Mexico has an incredibly rich fossil record and many remarkable fossil organisms have been recovered here. But one in particular, a relatively small, and at first glance, unassuming, animal was chosen by the New Mexico state legislature on March 17, 1981, to be the New Mexico State fossil. That honor was bestowed on the uniquely New Mexican dinosaur Coelophysis bauri (pronounced “see-low-fy-sis”). This is a brief account of its initial finding, and subsequent discovery of one of the most famous dinosaur quarries in the world, the Ghost Ranch Coelophysis Quarry. When discovered, Coelophysis was one of the oldest dinosaurs in the world, and the remains of this animal continue to inform us about the world of the Late Triassic (about 225 to 202 million years ago) and the rise of the ruling reptiles, the dinosaurs.