LOCKESBURG, Ark. (AP) - A scientific journal has given its imprimatur to Arkansas' state dinosaur, noting that its kind flourished in Asia but are not well-represented in North America.
Details about the Arkansaurus fridayi were published Monday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Joe Friday discovered the bones near Lockesburg in 1972 while searching for a missing cow.
Researcher ReBecca Hunt-Foster said in the journal article that the species is one of the oldest basal ornithomimosaurs in North America. She and fellow researcher James Quinn said additional discoveries would help scientists know more about the species.
Hunt-Foster is a University of Arkansas graduate who now works at the Bureau of Land Management in Moab, Utah.