Paleontologist Joe Carter at UNC-Chapel Hill and his team have reconstructed a full skeleton replica of Postosuchus alisonae “Alison”, the top terrestrial predator of the Triassic. The fossil was named for local fossil hunter Alison Chambers, who died in 1998. The prehistoric reptile was discovered in 1994 in a brick quarry in Durham. Since 2001, Carter and several of his undergraduate students have slowly added piece by piece to the skeleton by creating molds and casts of the original bones, which are housed at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. In the past six months paleontologist Karin Peyer (a visiting researcher at NC State University from the MNHN in Paris) and several volunteers have been finalizing the project.
The unveiling of Alison was at UNC’s Graham Memorial Hall on Sunday, March 3. See more at: http://endeavors.unc.edu/reconstructing_alison.
Thanks to Karin Peyer and Vince Schneider.
NC Museum of Natural Sciences Blogs 