During a late-summer Rafting and Rocks event at Schramm Park State Recreation Area near Gretna, Nebraska, six-year-old Leo Youngdahl turned over a rock at an outcrop of exposed bedrock. The boy from Eagle hoped to find one of his favorite fossils on its underside.
He was looking for a crinoid. Instead, the rock held a 2.75-inch (7-centimeter) conulariid, an ancient marine animal that rarely survives as a fossil.
The only other known Nebraska specimens turned up more than 55 years ago, in the towns of Louisville and Weeping Water.
Unusual to find in limestone
Kelly Ekue, an outdoor education specialist at the Schramm Education Center, leads fossil programs at the park for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission…