Creepie-crawlie-xti redux

[Catherine Rudin]

Bruce, you've been missed!  I hope you'll make it next time,
C

>>> shokooh Ingham  06/20/12 6:48 PM >>>
Dear All,
It seems that it was a really good conference.  I hope to be able to
come again one year, maybe next year.  Problems over here have kept me
at home, but I still study Lakota and am learning a lot.  Hope you are
all well.  I am an eager follower of the Siouan List. Great news about
the uŋkčheǧila.
Regards
Bruce

--- On Wed, 20/6/12, Catherine Rudin  wrote:

From: Catherine Rudin 
Subject: Re: Creepie-crawlie-xti redux
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu
Date: Wednesday, 20 June, 2012, 15:23

This is great!  
And yes, it was a wonderful conference.  Many thanks to Bob and
especially Dave for organizing and to everyone else for taking part.
Catherine

>>> "Rankin, Robert L."  06/19/12 8:56 PM >>>
 #yiv225807946 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Here is the Wichita
newspaper account of the naming of the sea-going dinosaur at the
Sternberg Museum that I mentioned in connection with Mark's fine paper
on Omaha bug/lizard names.  The reporter got things a little mixed up,
but the article is pretty accurate.  I had made several suggestions for
names, and my recollection was that they picked "walushka hi-tanga"
'big-toothed lizard'.  What they chose is slightly different, but the
essence remains.  Anyhow, here is the biggest Wagthishka of all -- 45
feet.

I hope everybody enjoyed the conference -- I think it was the biggest
ever.

Bob
==============================
#yiv225807946 st1\00003a*{}TheWichita Eagle

It has finally happened.
Derby paleontologist Mike Everhart's 10-year quest to name a mosasaur
fossil forKansas has succeeded.
Tylosaurus kansasensiswill become the official Latin name of a giant sea
lizard this spring when the name is published in the Netherlands Journal
of Geosciences.
Unofficially, this type of mosasaur -- a 25-foot-long sea lizard that
lived in the ocean more than 65 million years ago -- will be known as
"je-Walushka-tanga" (pronounced jay wah-LOOSH-gah DUNG-gah"), meaning
"great ocean lizard" in the language of the Kaw or Kanza tribe.
"It's nice to name a mosasaur after Kansas -- after all, Kansas is where
most of the mosasaurs have been found," said Larry Martin, curator of
vertebrate paleontology at the University of Kansas Natural History
Museum.
"If you were going to pick a fossil that would typifyKansas, a mosasaur
is a good choice."
Everhart, who serves as the adjunct curator of paleontology at the
Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, said he wanted the name of
the fossil to reflect Kansas's heritage.
"The Indian name just makes the fossil a little more special," Everhart
said. "There are hundreds of different kinds of fossils sitting in boxes
in all kinds of places. Few of them have a life of their own. The T. rex
Sue at theFieldMuseum (inChicago) is one that does. I want this one to
also come alive in people's imagination."
This isn't the first fossil to be named "kansasensis," Everhart said.
At least 20 other fossils bear that name, including several clams, a
mouse and some trilobites.
The new name also touts the state's fossil heritage and how these
rolling farm plains were once at the bottom of a 600-foot-deep ocean.
Since the late 1860s, the Smoky Hill chalk beds of westernKansas have
been known throughout the world for containing fossils dating to the
Cretaceous period, nearly 87 million years ago.
The mosasaurs, some species of which could grow as long as 45 feet, were
among the most terrifying animals of their time.
"They ruled the oceans at the end of the age of the dinosaur," Everhart
said. "They were a big predator."
They were monsters that ate everything in their way, swallowing prey
whole.
"InKansas, there were more than a dozen types of mosasaurs," Everhart
said. "Worldwide, the number is more than 40."
This particular species of mosasaur has been found only inKansas, he
said, and has been unnamed for nearly 140 years. There are 13 known
specimens of this type of mosasaur -- nine of Anyone can name an unnamed fossil, Everhart said. But a name gains
credibility only when it is published in a recognized journal.
In his paper, Everhart wrote that the fossil is named after the Kanza
Indians, "from which the name of the state... is derived and where all
of the known specimens have been collected."
The Kanza people originally lived in theOhio River valley. By the early
1800s, they had moved to what is now theKansas, or Kaw, River valley to
claim a territory that covered roughly two-fifths of modern-dayKansas.
In 1873, the tribe was forced to move toIndian Territory, in
present-dayOklahoma.
Justin McBride, language coordinator for the Kanza Language Project with
the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma, said the naming is an honor.
"The Kaw language is no longer spoken fluently," he said. "It is easy
for mainstream Americans to think that native languages were of lesser
importance. But they are every bit as rich as other languages in the
world. I think Mike Everhart's wish of going back to the source, going
back to 'kansasensis' is a very positive move."

Reach Beccy Tanner at 268-6336 orbtanner at wichitaeagle.com.







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