HONDURAS AND THE DINOSAURS

HONDURAS AND THE DINOSAURS: NEAR OLANCHITO MAY BE FOUND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FOSSIL RECORDS OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

By: Leonel Zúniga
Released: September 4, 2015
Updated: October  20, 2017

(View the photos of the visit  of CEITICB  staff  to the  area of collect  of    Cycads    fossils in San Juancito,    December 2016)

(View the photos of the visit  of CEITICB  staff  to the area of collect of unique Dinosaur Fossil of Central America, February 2016)

The topic on dinosaurs is definitely fascinating.

The size some dinosaurs had was impressive, for example; it is estimated that the sauropod titanosaurus  Dreadnoughtus schrani ¹, had a size of  about 26 meters long and could have weighed about 60 metric tons. However, Central America has been relatively unrelated to the topic of dinosaur fossils due to a set of theories, it has been assumed that at the time of terrestrial dinosaurs, Central America did not exist, and that the current land area was under water.

 Recently in Honduras a discovery of very limited distribution in Central America has been revealed. The discovery is based on a fossil bone of a terrestrial dinosaur discovered in 1971 in the central part of Honduras. It was discovered by  Bruce Simonson, while participating in a geological mapping project in Honduras along with Gregory S. Horne. The fossil bone was found in the department of Comayagua, about 10 km southwest of Esquías and about 6 km from San Luis, on the old road between San Luis and Rancho Grande  (See recent photos of the area).  The village of  Esquías  has been famous  in Honduras due to the finding of abundant  marine fossils  in nearby surroundings.

The specimen was taken to the United States and deposited in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington where it was first identified by Nicholas Hotton as the right femur of a small hadrosaur. It was also identified as a ornithopod bone by John Ostrom, then a professor of geology at Yale University^2.. It is  the only dinosaur bone registered in Central America, whose significance was not immediately recognized by the author³.

The first scientific publication that reports the finding of this bone was in the 1974 Article “Stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleoenvironment of Esquias Formation of Honduras”, from the Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, whose participant author was Gregory Horne. Later, in 1994, Gregory Horne wrote another article specifically focused on this fossil bone ³ .

Currently an online  database  is available at the National Museum of Natural History in the United States, and you can see photographs of the fossil bone in full color. (Login to: http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/paleo/; click on the tab search by field, and then in the Location tab, and in the country field choose Honduras . After you click Search, in the list that appears you must access page two.  Catalog number is 181 339 USNM PAL).

Although there are other documents that  mention the record of this fossil ^4.5, the recent article published by Spencer G. Lucas: Vertebrate Paleontology in Central America: 30 years of progress  once again brings out  to public discussion in Central America this important finding.

This led to pause in our activities, and do an Internet search of  another dinosaur reported in Honduras. Surprisingly  after a few hours of digital research, a newspaper piece from 1933 in the oldest newspaper of Montreal, Canada, the Montreal Gazette, thanks to the service of Google  digitilized newspapers (Google News ) allowed the confirmation of  an additional report, of a probable dinosaur fossil bone, found in Honduras. The article published in August 23, 1933, stated that at that time, this was the first dinosaur fossil discovered in Central America.

 The report mentioned that the fossil was discovered in the woods near the city of Olanchito, by an explorer named Gregory Mason, associate to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, United States. Immediately, and with the desire to confirm the veracity of the news we decided to contact the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Soon we received an email in which the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania provided us with information from their institutional archives with more details about the discovery, and a photograph of the bone (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.Photography of the explorer Gregory Mason with the fossil bone (in his right hand), found near the city of Olanchito, and some archaeological objects found in his exploratory trip by Honduras in 1933, article in the New Orleans Daily States of August 22, 1933. (Courtesy of Penn Museum).

The digitalized information received Included trimmings from the New Orleans States news, dated August 22, 1933 (fig.4,5,6), entitled:  First dinosaur found in Central America. The news was covered by journalist  MEIGS O. FROST. It is a fossil bone ( (apparently an metatarsus of the hind limbs of a dinosaur-see comparative article) of 22 pounds, 12 inches high, 10 inches wide at the bottom and 5 inches wide at the top, with evidence of joint fit. In effect, discovered by the explorer, archaeologist and writer Gregory Mason associated with the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, who also found in the same  expedition several issues of pieces of archaeological value. According to the news, it belongs to the leg bone of a dinosaur probably about 10-15 meters high.

Figure 2. Newspaper New Orleans Daily States August 22, 1933. (Courtesy of Penn Museum)

Gregory Mason traveled from New Orleans to Honduras in an archaeological exploration from  the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and visited the city of Olanchito, at the request of the American Museum of Natural History, based on information provided by Paul Vance, engineer and explorer of the Standard Fruit Company. Vance had mentioned seeing a giant fossilized vertebra in Olanchito, in the house of a villager named Terencio Reyes. According to local testimonies the vertebra belonged to "the Grandfather of the Lizards" a giant skeleton exposed  by a landslide near a branch of the Aguán River.  This information was also published in The Washington Post on August 23, 1933, The Baltimore Sun of August 23, 1933  and in The Plattsmouth Journal of August 21, 1933. There are also reports linked to this information in other US newspapers like  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of July 24, 1933, New York Times July 25, 1933   (Link 2), The Niagara Fall Gazette August 4,  1933 (NY), Reno Gazette-Journal July 24 1933 (NV), The Clifton Advocate december 7 1933 (IL),  Reading Eagle  august 4, 1933 (PA), The Woodville Republican  December 30, 1933 (MS), Spokane Daily Chronicle august 23,  1933 (WA), The Norwalk Hour  august 24, 1933 ,The Hartford Courant August 24, 1933 (CT), Harrisburg Telegraph august 23, 1933 (PA), The Monroe News-Star august 23, 1933 (LA), Miami Daily News-Record august 23, 1933 (FL), Record Journal of Douglas December 1, 1933 (CO); and in the Irish newspaper The Irish Times of august 29, 1933.

Mason traveled about 26 miles (41 kilometers) from the city of Olanchito, to  the home of Terencio Reyes (most likely in his farmland). Unfortunately upon arrival, Mason didn't find the vertebra at the indicated site for it had disappeared during a revolt in the city. When Mason didn’t find the vertebra, he moved to the site identified as a fossil source, about 52 miles in the woods (probably in the Yaguala-Mangulile River, the most distant tributary of the Aguan River, between Mangulile and Salama, about 55 linear miles of the Talgua caves), where upon arrival a new landslide  had completely covered the area preventing the confirmation of more  fossil bones. Nevertheless during his tour in the area he found the fossil bone over a mound which he took to the United States as  evidence.

Yaguala river, tributary of the Aguan River.

According to data published by New Orleans Daily States of 22 August 1933, On his return, Gregory Mason  would deliver arqueological artifacts to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania (one of them can be seen on  the  online collection of PennMuseum) and send the fossil to the American Museum of Natural History recommending a new expedition. Also the newspapers The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Norwalk Hour, Harrisburg Telegraph , The Monroe News-Star, The Hartford Courant, and the  Miami Daily News-Record  mentioned that the fossil would be presented at the  American Museum of Natural History,  then its director  Henry Fairfield Osborn.

While researching for more information about Gregory Mason, it is clear that at the the date of discovery (1933)  Mason had a long career as a researcher and explorer in Central America, and a clear link with some of the most important museums in the United States , like  the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania,  the American Museum of Natural History, and  the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. One of the most important explorations by Mason was the one performed alongside Herbert J. Spinden from the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in 1926 in the Yucatan peninsula, which was called Mason-Spinden Expedition. Gregory Mason wrote in 1940 the book "South of the yesterday", which tells peculiarities of some of  his explorations in America. On  pages 133-135 of his book, Mason talks about the discovery of fossil bones of megathere (extinct mammal) in Trinidad, department of Santa Barbara, Honduras; during  an expedition in 1932    for the  Museum of the American Indian in New York. Here  mention that these fossils was showed  personally months later to  Childs Frick and Barnum Brown Curator    of the American Museum of Natural History.

With the information gathered at the beginning of this research, we decided to contact the American Museum of Natural History. Through email exchanges, the American Museum of Natural History confirmed the presence in its database of fossils collected by Gregory Mason, but also clarified that the fossil bone presented by Mason in New Orleans in August 1933 is not in their database. Therefore we can conclude, at the time of updating this article, that after the presentation of Mason in August 1933 in New Orleans, the final destination of the fossil is undetermined.

If  the existence of more dinosaur fossils in Honduras were to be confirmed, there is no doubt that it will increase the questions that we  have about the formation of the Central American isthmus. The camel fossil discovery in Panama and a recent study  published in the  journal     Science, have increased the controversy on this important issue.

Possible map site associated with “Grandfather of the Lizards."

CONTEXT OF THE NEWS

The year was 1933. The International Geological Congress was been held in the United States. This took place on July  22 to 29, in the Chamber of Commerce building in Washington D.C.. It was the largest international event on geology. It had been 42 years since the last congress held in this city. In the event 665 people participated, mostly from the United States and representatives from 34 countries. Arthur Smith Woodward, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Henry Fairfield Osborn participated in this event.  The   welcome     speech    for such an important event had been granted to Henry Fairfield Osborn, director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. By then, had not discovered the  fraud of Piltdown Man, which were linked Arthur Smith Woodward of the Natural History Museum in London and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In America, the Piltdown Man had received the academic support of Henry Fairfield Osborn, after a personal visit to the Natural History Museum in London. Osborn wrote in 1927 the book "Man rises to Parnassus" which left on record  its support for the Piltdown Man.

Even without finishing the event, a story must have shaken the  participants. On July 24 in the United States it was announced that an explorer named Gregory Mason had come to New Orleans and was preparing to make  an exploratory trip to Honduras, seeking to confirm reports of  human bones larger than normal. Obviously, it was an academic challenge to the discussions about the origin of mankind developed internally in International Geological Congress in Washington. For some members of the scientific community in the United States it was no secret the information discussed by Paul Vance, an engineer from Louisiana who had worked for years in Honduras for the  Standard Fruit Company. Vance had commented  in  the United States about the  the existence in Honduras of  human bones larger than normal in a cave of Santa Barbara, and the presence of a fossil dinosaur skeleton near the city of Olanchito. 

THE GREAT INTEREST FROM THE DIRECTOR OF AMNH AND A FOSSIL THAT COULD HAVE CHANGED THE HISTORY

Something that highlights in news  related to Mason expedition  in 1933, is the great interest of Henry Osborn, director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, in confirming the Vance report on "Grandfather of the Lizards" in Honduras. The idea of ​​a non existent Central America at the time of the dinosaurs had several decades of discussion, and was based largely on the conclusions of Henry Osborn presented in his book "The Age of Mammals in Europe, Asia and North America" published in 1910. This book was influential in scientists in North America and Europe in the perception of the geological formation of Central America. To get an idea of the influence of this book at the time, just read the review that just made the American paleontologist  Samuel Wendell Williston, published in the  Science Journal of  February 17 1911.

On page 81 of his book, Osborn described the idea of ​​the emergence of the Central American isthmus, outside the context of the dinosaurs:

"These conclusions on the whole leave the question of the period of the connection between North and South America entirely an open one, yet this  period  seems to be pretty firmly established as of  Age Pliocene through the overwhelming testimony of the interchange of large terrestrial mammals between North and South America at this time "

A terrestrial dinosaur fossil in Central America, not only it had involved to review the idea of biological exchange between North America and South America, but also the foundations of the geographical distribution of animals in America. Even  William Berryman Scott  recognized vertebrate paleontologist and  close friend of Henry Osborn  said in his article "The Isthmus of Panama in its relation to the animal life of  North and South America" in  Science Journal (January 1916) :

" ...unless the theory of evolution could offer a rational and satisfactory solution of these problems of distribution, the foundations of the theory would be greatly weakened. "

In 1928, William Berryman Scott, along with other authors such as Arthur Smith Woodward published the book: "Creation by evolution; a consensus of present-day knowledge as set forth by leading Authorities in non-technical language That All May understand ", which Henry Osborn wrote the foreword. In this book he indirectly states that Central america arises from the seabed after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

 “Now let us go back to the time, in the middle of the Tertiary period, in the Miocene epoch, when North and South America were not connected, a fact demonstrated by the geological record of Central America and the Isthmus of Panama.”

“About in the middle or perhaps in the later part of the Miocene epoch of the Tertiary period Central America and the Isthmus of Panama were raised above the sea, and North and South America were thus connected.”

It also highlights in the news the flutter that caused in US academic circles the report of the engineer Paul L. Vance of dinosaur fossils in Central America. Washington D.C.  had been home of the 16th International Geological Congress, which was also  attended by geologist Alexander Du Toit. The theory of continental drift proposed by Alfred Wegener was in the midst of the debate.

On January 6, 1912, Alfred Wegener, German Meteorologist and Geophysicist, presented the foundations of his theory of the "Continental Drift" at the General Meeting of the Geological Association in Frankfurt, Germany. Part of his theory was based on Osborn's conclusions about the geological formation of Central America and the connection of North America with South America.

Wegener said in 1912:

 “A further interesting relation occurs between North and South America. As Osborn first thought, and was developed further by Scharff, an unconstrained connection between these two continents existed until the beginning of the Tertiary time…”

 Du Toit had presented in 1929 at the  15th International Geological  Congress developed in South Africa, the foundations of his theory of the union of the continents in the past.  Du Toit showed at the congress of 1933 more information on support of his theory.  Bailey Willis, a  famous and renowned American geologist had published in 1929 his article "Continental genesis" in which he proposed a hypothesis for the origin and growth of continents. Later, Willis published in 1932 his article "Isthmian Links" that added more discussion to the argument against the theory of Continental Drift, when proposing that the continents had been intermittently connected by Isthmian links, as the Panama  Isthmus of today. In this paper, Willis emphasizes bathymetric study of the Caribbean, different geological studies of Insular America and Central America, and for Honduras refers to Arthur Redfield's 1923 article "The Petroleum Possibilities of Honduras".Finally, Willis publishes in 1944 the article "Continental drift, ein Maerchen" in which he states that "the laws of mechanics and dynamics make it impossible continental drift ".

In the article "Petroleum Possibilities of Honduras" Redfield about  reports related to the watershed of the Aguan River, said:

“Seepages of petroleum are reported at Guare, 66 miles south of Puerto Cortes, in the Guare Mountains, 21 miles north of Comayagua, a bituminous limestone presumibly of Neocomian (Lower Cretaceous age). The oil-bearing rock outcrop for  two miles in a gulch. It contains numerous pockets of paraffine-base petroleum.”

“Other indications are said to occur along Rio Aguan and at various points not specified on the Caribbean coastal plain. Gas seepages are also reported,and an oil scum is said to be visible beyond the surf line… …These occurrences have not been authenticated.”

An important aspect of the theory of continental drift is the date of the geological formation of Central America and thus the connection of North America with South America and its effect on biogeography. In this context, confirmation of Dinosaur Fossils in Central America would have caused an important theoretical problem, difficult to solve.

Gregory Mason, himself, highlighted in 1933 the importance of this discovery:  “the formation,… … indicated that fossilized skeletons that may shake and shatter many scientific theories of today will be discovered there”. As expressed Meigs O. Frost based on their interview with Gregory Mason: “the discovery, if authenticated, mean revising many scientific concepts”. 

INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE TEXT

Paul Vance, was a civil engineer dedicated to railroad construction, resident in New Orleans, originally from Illinois, and he was recorded in the census realized in the US in 1940. (Paul L. Vance in the US Census of 1940, New Verda, Grant County, Lousiana, No.8 SD, ED No.22-11, sheet 10b). He traveled trough New Orleans and La Ceiba Honduras, at least in 1921, 1925, 1926, 1932 y 1933.

Terencio T. Reyes, was mayor of Olanchito in the years 1918, 1923 and 1929. For 1936, Terencio T. Reyes was considered a renowned person in Olanchito⁷. According to oral testimony, the land of Terencio T. Reyes for 1930 were among communities Teguajal, the Jigua and Santa Cruz, near Arenal.

Figure 3. Reference of Terencio T. Reyes in the book "Historia de San Jorge de Olanchito", written by Juan Ramón Funez, 1995.

Robert Hickish (eyewitness to the collect of the Mason fossil bone) who probably reported manganese deposits in Honduras, mentioned in 1034 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1957. Robert Hickish, resident of New York USA for 1915 and resident in the city of La Ceiba Honduras for 1933,  was an inventor who became the author of several patents in the United States in the years 1915, 1916, 1929, 1930, 1933.

Meigs Oliver Frost, was a prominent journalist from Louisiana USA, who also wrote a biography of condecorated Colonel World War Frederick May Wise.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT DINOSAURS AND HONDURAS

           (12/16/2015) HONDURAS the first country in central america, where it was reported fossil flora  associated to dinosaurs ecosystems (1886) .

In 1886, Chas. M. Rolker an American engineer discovered near San Juancito Mine, Francisco Morazan, Honduras, fossil plants of the family of cycads. Later in January 1888 Thomas. H. Leggett     mining engineer based in San Juancito, thanks to efforts from Rolker, discover nearby more fossil flora. Specimens were sent to the US and were displayed at the meeting of the Academy of Sciences of New York on January 30, 1888, and later described by  palaeobotanist  John. S. Newberry    that year in   Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences    and in  American Journal of Science. Some of the specimens can be seen at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. This information was also discussed   in the Bulletin # 85 of the USGS (United States Geological Survey), 1892.

Identified Species:

1. Zamites (Pterophyllum) rolkeri Newberry, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
2. Zamites leggetti Newberry, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
3. Anomozamites elegans Newberry, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
4. Otozamites linguiformes Newberry, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
5. Pterophyllum propinquum? Goppert, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
6. Sphenozamites robustus Newberry, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
7. Sphenozamites? grandis, (Cycadophyta; Bennititopsida; Bennettitales)
8. Dioonites carnallianus Goppert, (Cycadales)
9. Dioonites longifolius  Emmons, (Cycadales)
10. Nilssonia polymorpha , (Cycadophyta; Nilssoniales)
11. Taeniopteris glossopteroides Newberry, (Cycadales)
12. Encephalartos? denticulatus, (Cycadophyta; Zamiaceae)
13. Noeggerathiopsis sp

(See recent photos of the area)

Later, in 1952, an exploration of San Juancito by the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (Mexico), found fossil specimens of an extinct conifer (Yuccites sp) and an extinct bivalve (Palaeoneilo sp) in an close area to the published by Legget in 1888.

Geographic Location of San Juancito, Francisco Morazán

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Newspaper  New Orleans Daily States August 22, 1933

Figure 4. News in the New Orleans Daily States August 22, 1933. (Courtesy of Penn Museum)

Figure 5. News in the New Orleans Daily States August 22, 1933. (Courtesy of Penn Museum)

Figure 6. Photograph of the fossil bone, found near the city of Olanchito, found in his exploratory trip to Honduras in 1933, article in the New Orleans Daily States August 22, 1933. (Courtesy of Penn Museum).

Endnotes

1. Lacovara, Kenneth J., Matthew C. Lamanna, Lucio M. Ibiricu, Jason C. Poole, Elena R. Schroeter, Paul V. Ullmann, Kristyn K. Voegele et al. 2014. “A Gigantic, Exceptionally Complete Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from Southern Patagonia, Argentina.” Scientific Reports 4: 6196 EP -.
2. Horne, Gregory S., M. G. Atwood, and Allen P. King. 1974. “Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleoenvironment of Esquias Formation of Honduras.” AAPG Bulletin 58 (2): 176–88.
3. Horne, Gregory S. 1994. “A Mid-Cretaceous Ornithopod from Central Honduras.” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14 (1): 147–50.
4. Pasch, Anne D., and Kevin C. May. 1997. “First occurrence of a hadrosaur (Dinosauria) from the Matanuska Formation (Turonian) in the Talkeetna Mountains of south-central Alaska.” Short notes on Alaska geology 1997: 99–109.
5. Tennant, Jonathan. 2013. “Osteology of a Near-Complete Skeleton of Tenontosaurus tilletti (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cloverly Formation, Montana, USA.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.2616.

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