A group of female graziers who hunt fossils in their downtime have uncovered the remains of a 100m-year-old creature that palaeontologists think could be a new species of prehistoric marine giant.
The fossilised remains of a long-necked elasmosaur were found by one of the "rock chick" palaeontologists.
This is the first time a elasmosaur skull has been found in Australia.
The information provided could allow palaeontologists to decipher other fossils held in museums, just as they were able to do with the Rosetta Stone.
In the weeks leading up to the moment, the trio had already found another plesiosaur, as well as other important fossils.
Prince said, "This is not real." I looked down again and I thought that was a skull looking up at me.
According to Dr Espen Knutsen, the senior curator of Palaeontology at theQueensland Museum, such a fossil is extremely rare.
At the time of Knutsen's discovery, Prince sent pictures of her and sister Cynthia to him. The palaeontologist knew this was special immediately.
There is a skull of an elasmosaur in the museum. A skull connected to a body is hard to find.
This is due to the unique nature of the elasmosaur The marine reptiles were around eight metres in length and had small heads on their neck.
Knutsen said a lot of it is neck Half of an elasmosaur's body length is neck.
The elasmosaur's decomposing body would swell with gas and float at the mercy of tides and scavengers. Once the gas dissipated, the body parts would not sink to the same spot.
The back half of the elasmosaur's body is missing, even though its skull, neck and front half are all intact.
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The elasmosaur may have beenbitten in half by the kronosaur, according to Knutsen. The rest of the elasmosaur corpse would have sunk to the bottom of the inland sea if a puncture had been made.
It is an initial theory Knutsen's team of palaeontologists will tease out over coming years as they hope to untangle the story of this five- to seven-metre juvenile they've called the Little Prince.
It is likely that the work will shed light on many other prehistoric beasts that swam in central QUEENSLAND during the time of the dinosaurs.
Knutsen is confident that there are many different types of elasmosaurs that lived in that sea.
The difference between those species can be unlocked with the help of a skull. Prior to the discovery of Little Prince, the skull had been covered by the weight of the earth and was not visible.
The elasmosaur's skull and body are three-dimensionally preserved, giving a richer insight into the way of life of the reptile.
Scientists wondered if the prehistoric reptiles used their teeth to filter feed from the ocean floor and if they used their big flippers to cruise along migration routes.
Knutsen would like Little Prince to shed light on the questions and allow paleontologists to describe the different species in the museum.
Knutsen said that they would be able to untangle all that taxonomy.
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