Thursday, February 22, 2007

Tullimonstrum gregarium for U of I Mascot

Yesterday Rich asked for a new mascot for U of I. Let me offer Illinois's State Fossil: The Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium)

The state fossil of Illinois is an enigmatic, wormlike creature called the Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium). It was a predatory creature that inhabited the lowland swamps that covered the state during the Pennsylvanian Period, around 300 million years ago. This member of the world-famous Mazon Creek fauna still presents science with a mystery regarding its relationships to any modern creatures.
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The first Tully Monster was discovered by amateur collector Francis Tully in 1958. He took the strange creature to the Field Museum, where none of the staff could identify it. Curator Eugene Richardson gave it a proper scientific name in 1966, dubbing it Tullimonstrum gregarium, meaning "Tully's common monster."

Illinois State Geological Survey paleontologist Donald Mikulic lobbied the State Legislature for designation of the Tully Monster as the state fossil, and a bill to this effect was passed in 1989.
The pictures in the link aren't very good. You need to visit the Field Museum for a better idea. Lots of teeth so I think a good artist could come up with something fearsome.

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