Scientific name: Martinectes bonneri
Name means: “Martin’s swimmer”
Excavated: 1976 in South Dakota (skull) and Wyoming (body)
Length: 15 ft (4.6 m)
Width: 13 ft (3.9 m)
Skull: 3.22 ft long (98 cm)
New MOEH Addition, part 3
January 30, 2025
New MOEH Fossil, part 3
We are blessed and excited to have on the road another impressive full skeleton of a large marine reptile. Martinectes was a species of short-necked plesiosaurs in the Polycotylidae family, whose kind was created on the 5th Day of history. These marine reptiles are believed to have had impressive speeds and maneuverability due to their large, powerful flippers. Each flipper has five digits (fingers) with hyperphalangism, meaning they have a large number of phalanges (up to 18 bones) per digit. Their conical, interlocking teeth support the idea that their diet consisted primarily of fish and other soft bodied marine creatures.
Fossils of this created kind have been found in marine sediments in Australia, Canada, Eastern Europe, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, South America, and the United States. The global result of rapidly buried creatures in marine sediments can best be explained by a global cause – the global flood recorded in Genesis.
CTF’s Martinectes fossil represents two of the largest specimens ever discovered. Excavated in 1976, the skull (specimen KUVP 40001) was collected from the Pierre Shale at the Wallace Ranch in Fall River County, SD. The body (specimen KUVP 40002) was collected four miles away in the Pierre Shale at the Johnson Ranch in Niobrara County, WY. The fossils were later prepared at the labs of the University of Kansas and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in a three-year collaborative effort. The specimens were originally identified as Trinacromerum bonneri in 1977, were reclassified as Dolichorhynchops bonneri in 1996, and then reclassified again as Martinectes bonneri in 2023 due to its much larger size and slight anatomical differences with all other Dolichorhynchops specimens. A 2017 study suggested that the body to which the skull belonged (KUVP 40001) may have reached 23 feet in length.
The genus name Martinectes is in honor of University of Kansas paleontologist Larry Martin (1943-2013). Though an evolutionist, Martin was a vocal opponent to the idea of dinosaurs evolving into birds. The species name bonneri is in honor of Marion Bonner (1911-1992), who spent 60 years collecting fossils in western Kansas. Again, we are blessed to have such an incredible specimen of aquatic engineering to display for the glory of our Creator God.
Washington the Soldier
by Jacques Auguste Regnier, 1834
Artemis - the Greek goddess of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, chastity and childbirth. 1 While the Greek goddess may not be openly worshiped anymore, her name has now been irrevocably linked to the lesser light, just as her mythological twin brother Apollo’s was in the last century. Even so, it was not without Providence showing Who is really present in the affairs of men. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has been focused on having a prolonged presence in space with the work of the International Space Station (ISS), so until recently lunar exploration took a backseat. The Artemis missions of NASA have changed that. They began with the first launch in 2022 when an unmanned spacecraft orbited the Moon and returned successfully for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The plan for the Artemis program is to establish an ongoing manned presence on the Moon. In upcoming missions astronauts will return to the surface, marking another generation of Moon exploration. As we press forward, may we never forget the sacrifice of many lives throughout our ongoing space program, and may we remember it is only possible by the ordered design and engineered forces at work in creation by the Lord God our Creator. Many of you may have watched, as I did, as four brave astronauts were launched from the clutches of Earth’s gravity on April 1, 2026. It was hard to describe how proud I was as an American on that day. This country, founded on God-ordained rights and privileges, was the first and only country to place His image bearers on the surface of the lesser light years ago, and we are headed back again. We are literally doing what the Lord asked of us from the Genesis 1:28 mandate in studying His creation. As much as I know that not all who work for NASA have this worldview, there are several that do, praise the Lord! On Artemis II launch day, one of the four astronauts on board was our brother in Christ - Victor Glover, mission pilot.