The newest Wyoming dinosaur had to cross an ocean and go through fire before being recognized as a new species. Luckily, after 147 million years, its time has come.
Ardetosaurus viator, “the burned lizard traveler,” was announced in a new paleontological paper while its mounted skeleton was unveiled at the Oertijdmuseum in the Netherlands. It’s been a baptism by fire for the 74-foot sauropod that’s finally getting its due.
“We finished the preparation and mounting of the specimen,” Jonathan Wallaard, the Senior Curator of the Oertijdmuseum, told Cowboy State Daily. “It took approximately 40,000 hours, and it’s standing in our museum today.”
Jurassic Jenga
Ardetosaurus was discovered in the Howe-Stephens Quarry, a legendary Late Jurassic bonebed near Shell in the Bighorn Basin. The site was first discovered by the American Museum of Natural History in 1934 and continues to be a source of significant discoveries
The Howe-Stephens Quarry is densely packed with thousands of dinosaur bones, primarily from long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods. Ardetosaurus was one of several spectacularly preserved sauropods extracted from this "Jurassic Jenga" during an excavation in 1993.
“The specimen was first discovered by the Sauriermuseum (from Switzerland),” said Wallaard. “Most of the material was taken out in 1993 and 1994."
The skeleton included several vertebrae from the dinosaur's neck, back, and tail, complete hips, most of its left leg, and several rib fragments. Most of the fossils were fully articulated, still connected as they would have been while the animal was alive.
Although the skull, arms, and most of the tail were missing, it was an exciting discovery, nonetheless. It was christened “the Brösmeli specimen” and initially identified as a skeleton of the famous Diplodocus.
The Brösmeli specimen was shipped from Shell to Switzerland once it was unearthed. It remained safely in storage for nearly a decade until Ardetosaurus went on another international journey – and had another brush with “death.”
Fire!
In 2003, the Sauriermuseum shipped segments of the dismembered Brösmeli specimen to the Dinosaurier Freilichtmuseum, a museum in Münchehagen, Germany. There, the fossils were intended to undergo preparation, removing the rock encasing them so the bare bones could be researched and displayed.
Then, on Oct. 4, 2003, the museum was set on fire and burned down in what was later determined to be an act of arson. Ardetosaurus was trapped inside, and some of its fossils were destroyed in the inferno.
“The fire got very hot, so some of the sediment around the fossils was ‘baked,’” Wallaard said. “It’s the same effect you get when baking clay to make bricks.”
The Brösmeli specimen mostly survived the fire, since most of the dinosaur was still in storage in Switzerland. However, Wallaard said between three to five neck vertebrae and part of the left femur and fibula were lost, presumably destroyed.
Fortunately, the preparation of Ardetosaurus had only gotten started. Many of the fossils were still encased in plaster jackets, which protected them from the fire.
The remaining fossils in Germany were shipped back to storage in Switzerland. Wallaard said you can still see signs of the fire on the specimen today.
“Some of the bones were scarred, and we are still missing sections of some bones,” he said. “Luckily, most of the skeleton was not influenced by the fire.”
Researchers uncover Aredewtosaurus Viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, at a dig site near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
Researchers uncover Aredewtosaurus Viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, at a dig site near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
Researchers uncover Aredewtosaurus Viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, at a dig site near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
(Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
Researchers uncover Aredewtosaurus Viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, at a dig site near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
After it was dug up near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s, Ardetosaurus viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, survived a fire at a German museum before finally being revealed as a new species. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
After it was dug up near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s, Ardetosaurus viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, survived a fire at a German museum before finally being revealed as a new species. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
After it was dug up near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s, Ardetosaurus viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, survived a fire at a German museum before finally being revealed as a new species. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
After it was dug up near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s, Ardetosaurus viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, survived a fire at a German museum before finally being revealed as a new species. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum) 
After it was dug up near Shell, Wyoming, in the early 1990s, Ardetosaurus viator, a 74-foot-long dinosaur, survived a fire at a German museum before finally being revealed as a new species. (Courtesy Oertijdmuseum)
A Home And A Name
Ardetosaurus had one more journey to make. In 2018, the Sauriermuseum sold the sauropod to the Oertijdmuseum in the Netherlands, where it would finally rise from the ashes of the 2003 fire.
Wallaard and his colleagues finished the 40,000 hours of preparation needed to remove the rock matrix around the sauropod skeleton. Meanwhile, a team of paleontologists studied the fossils to determine which dinosaur they belonged to.
The Sauriermuseum identified the sauropod as a Diplodocus when they found it in 1993. Diplodocus is the world’s most iconic dinosaur, mainly because of the famous specimen of “the most colossal animal ever” found in Sheep Creek, Wyoming, in the 1890s and purchased by billionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Upon further examination, the Oertijdmuseum’s research team realized that their scorched sauropod was distinctly different from Diplodocus. It was recognized as a new species, adding another long-necked giant to Wyoming’s Late Jurassic menagerie.
The genus name, Ardetosaurus, comes from the Latin ārdēre, meaning ‘to burn,” and the Latinized Greek word “saurus” for “lizard.” Its species name, ‘viator’, is Latin for traveler, a nod to its journey from Shell to Switzerland, Germany, and ultimately the Netherlands.
Diplodocid Differences
Discovering and establishing a new species of dinosaur requires extensive scientific investigation under the scrutiny of experts. Even after extinction and surviving a fire 147 million years later, the rigorous peer review process wasn’t a cakewalk for Ardetosaurus.
Wallaard said the skeletal features that make Ardetosaurus different from Diplodocus and any other sauropod are “too complicated to write for a general audience.” Most of its defining characteristics are the shapes and sizes of its vertebrae and how some are “less complex” than those of other sauropods.
One notable discovery about the Ardetosaurus specimen is that it is “the first skeletally mature sauropod specimen” from the Howe-Stephens Quarry. Considering the thousands of specimens from that site and the propensity for sauropods to live fast and die young during the Late Jurassic, Ardetosaurus is a rare adult in a 147-million-year-old room.
Beyond that, another distinct bone preserved on the Ardetosaurus specimen is its first chevron, the triangular-shaped bone at the bottom of the first tailbone behind the hips. That chevron has a “peculiar morphology” that the paleontology team thought was particularly notable.
“(This chevron) highlights the need to further investigate the possible recognition of sexual dimorphism in sauropod dinosaurs through micromorphological characteristics in chevrons,” the paper reads.
That means the shape of Ardetosaurus’s peculiar chevron could reveal a method to determine sauropod gender. Further study will be needed to figure out what color balloons should be bought for its next birthday.
Standing Tall (And Long)
The 74-foot-long Ardetosaurus viator is now mounted in the Oertijdmuseum’s dinosaur gallery. The research paper announcing and describing the new species, with several images of its fossils and history, is publicly available on Palaeontologica Electronica.
Wallaard said it has become one of the museum’s most iconic specimens. It’s a fitting end for a dinosaur that has endured so much to contribute so much to the field of paleontology.
“It’s a great specimen,” Wallaard said.
