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The Harvard Australian Expedition of 1931–1932 was a six-man venture sent by then
Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology The Museum of Comparative Zoology (formally the Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology and often abbreviated to MCZ) is a zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three natural-history r ...
(MCZ) director
Thomas Barbour Thomas Barbour (August 19, 1884 – January 8, 1946) was an American herpetologist. He was the first president of the Dexter School in 1926. From 1927 until 1946, he was director of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) founded in 1 ...
to Australia for the dual purpose of procuring specimens and studying native (living) wildlife in its natural habitat. The Expedition leader was Harvard Professor
William Morton Wheeler William Morton Wheeler (March 19, 1865 – April 19, 1937) was an American entomologist, myrmecologist and professor at Harvard University. Biography Early life and education William Morton Wheeler was born on March 19, 1865, to parents Juliu ...
, with the others being Dr. Philip Jackson Darlington, Jr. (a renowned coleopterist), Dr.
Glover Morrill Allen Glover Morrill Allen (February 8, 1879 – February 14, 1942) was an American zoologist. Born in Walpole, New Hampshire, the son of Reverend Nathaniel Glover Allen and Harriet Ann (Schouler) Allen, he studied at Harvard University. While still a ...
and his student Ralph Nicholson Ellis, medical officer Dr. Ira M. Dixon, and William E. Schevill (a graduate-student in his twenties as well as Associate Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology at the MCZ).About the Exhibits by Elizabeth Hall and Max Hall (Museum of Comparative Zoology "Agazziz Museum" Harvard University. Third Edition, Copyright 1964, 1975, 1985, by the President and Fellows of Harvard College The Expedition was a success, with 341 mammal, 545 amphibian, and thousands of insect specimens returning to the United States., yet its most famous legacy and find was the accidental discovery of the world's most complete skeleton of the short-necked
pliosaur Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive toot ...
'' Kronosaurus queenslandicus''.


Finding Specimens

The MCZ being "weak in Australian animals and...desires ngto complete its series", specimen collection was as important as observation. Operating mostly in eastern and southwestern Australia, at least four of the species they collected "were new to science". Spending a total of three months in Western Australia, the team suffered delays in assembling the collections in Sydney, "obtaining export permits from Customs," and transporting their collections back to the States. Then, in the last days of 1931, two expedition members returned as well – those being Professors Wheeler (the leader) and Allen, leaving their four counterparts in Sydney. Following the shrinkage of the team, William Schevill reports that Dr. Darlington began, and spent most of his time, collecting various insect, mammal, and bird specimens in the area around Sydney as well as in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales; indeed, "he was particularly among the mammals of this region." This was the beginning of the team working on a more individual basis rather than as a group, for Schevill set out on his own to collect three times and, in February, Ralph Ellis departed from Australia; swiftly followed by medical officer Dr. Ira Dixon as, per Schevill's report, - "his continued services...
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
no longer practicable, since Dr. Darlington and I planned to collect in rather widely separated regions. Thus only two of the original six expedition members remained. From this point forward Schevill and Darlington met only when their work required it, the former working more closely with the then Director of the
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
Museum (Heber A. Longman) and, through him, with Australia's Under Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Stock (R. Wilson). The two worked together twice more, in the
McPherson Range The McPherson Range is an extensive mountain range, a spur of the Great Dividing Range, heading in an easterly direction from near Wallangarra, Queensland, Wallangarra to the Pacific Ocean coastline. It forms part of the Scenic Rim on the border ...
and
Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
where Darlington procured a series of tree kangaroo and Schevill worked along Lake Barrine. Indeed, noting Darlington's activities in greater detail than his own, Mr. Schevill reports that "Dr. Darlington's resourceful skill and industry had brought together, from New South Wales and Queensland, not only a large collection of insects, but also over three hundred fifty mammals, representing over sixty species, as well about fifty species of birds; in addition, he had about two hundred fifty reptiles and amphibians." However, Philip Darlington departed Australia on August 2, 1932 - leaving and making William E. Schevill the last remaining member of the original six-men expedition. And it was Schevill, the team's fossil enthusiast, who was about to make the discovery that made the Harvard Australian Expedition famous.


''Kronosaurus queenslandicus''

In the winter of 1932, Schevill was told by the rancher R.W.H. Thomas of rocks with something "odd" poking out of them on his property near Hughenden.Mather, Patricia, with Agnew, N.H. et al. ''The History of the Queensland Museum, 1862-1986'' Retrieved fro
archive.org
/ref> The rocks were
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
nodules Nodule may refer to: *Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster *Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor *Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells *Root nodule Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...
containing the most complete skeleton of a ''Kronosaurus'' ever discovered.Meyers, Troy. ''Kronosaurus Chronicles''. Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Issue 3, 2005. Retrieved fro
australianageofdinosaurs.com
/ref> After dynamiting the nodules out of the ground (and into smaller pieces weighing approximately four tons) with the aid of a British migrant trained in the use of explosives,The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (Hardcover) – October 26, 2004 Scheville had the fossils shipped back to Harvard for examination and preparation. The skull—which matched the holotype jaw fragment of ''K. queenslandicus''—was prepared right away, but time and budget constraints put off restoration of the nearly complete skeleton - most of the bones of which remained unexcavated within the limestone blocks - for 20 years.


Completion and legacy

This interim ended when they came to the attention of
Godfrey Lowell Cabot Godfrey Lowell Cabot (February 26, 1861 – November 2, 1962) was an American industrialist who founded the Cabot Corporation. Early life Godfrey Lowell Cabot was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Boston Latin School. His father was Sa ...
- Boston industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of the
Cabot Corporation Cabot Corporation is an American specialty chemicals and performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The company operates in over 20 countries with 36 manufacturing plants, eight research and development facilities and ...
- "who was then in his nineties had been interested in sea serpents since childhood." Having formerly question MCZ director
Alfred Romer Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American paleontologist and biologist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution. Biography Alfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer an ...
about the existence and reports of sea serpents and it thus occurred to Dr. Romer to tell Mr. Cabot about the skeleton in the museum closet. Godfrey Cabot thus asked how much a restoration would cost and "Romer, pulling a figure out of the musty air, replied, 'Oh, about $10,000.'" Romer may not have been serious but the philanthropist clearly was because the check for said sum came shortly thereafter. Two years - and more than $10,000 - later, following the careful labor of the museum preparators, the restored and mounted skeleton was displayed at Harvard in 1959. However, Dr. Romer and MCZ preparator Arnold Lewis confirmed that same year in the institution's journal ''Breviora'' that "erosion had destroyed a fair fraction of this once complete and articulated skeleton...so that approximately a third of the specimen as exhibited is plaster restoration." Furthermore, the original (real) bones are also layered in plaster; a fact that, while keeping the fossils safe, makes it difficult for paleontologists to study it - an issue which factors into the controversial question of the true size of the ''Kronosaurus queenslandicus''.


Size controversy

Body-length estimates, largely based on the 1959 Harvard reconstruction, had previously put the total length of ''Kronosaurus'' at . However, more recent studies, comparing fossil specimens of ''Kronosaurus'' to other pliosaurs suggests that the Harvard reconstruction may have included too many vertebrae, exaggerating the previous estimate, with the true length probably only .McHenry, Colin R. "Devourer of Gods: The Palaeoecology of the Cretaceous Pliosaur Kronosaurus Queenslandicus." The University of Newcastle Australia, Apr. 2009. Web.


References


External links


William Morton Wheeler

Philip Jackson Darlington, Jr.
*
Glover Morrill Allen

Thomas Barbour

Romer Hall of Vertebrate Paleontology

Symbiota ID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvard Australian Expedition (1931-1932) Paleontology in Australia Harvard University museums Australian expeditions 1931 in paleontology 1932 in paleontology 1931 in Australia 1932 in Australia