It was Eubrontes, a 170 million-year-old dinosaur footprint Mr Meehan excavated from his quarry. In July 2011, he showed the rock to a stranger, not uncommon as Mr Meehan regularly had visitors wanting to see it. This visitor asked to buy the fossil for his girlfriend, but it was not for sale.
The next day the fossil had disappeared and has not been seen since, though you?d think it?s a hard thing to miss since it is 46cm square and weighs 68kg not the sort of rock you could give your girlfriend to wear, or put on display on a small shelf in the study.
Mr Meehan is quite distraught as Eubrontes, the name of the footprint not the dinosaur, was a particularly clear impression. The dinosaur itself was probably similar to a Dilophosaurus of the early Jurassic period.
No traces of the Eubrontes footprint or the footprints of its thief have been found.
In Australia, a 120 million-year-old dinosaur footprint went missing in Broome, WA in the mid 1990s but it was recovered in 1998. Perhaps Eubrontes will trudge home in few years ? a little footsore.
Source: The Hartford Courant (US)