A reconstruction of a species of Swaindelphys discovered at Big Bend National Park in Texas, according to paleontologists from the University of Kansas. (Kristen Tietjen)

Paleontologists uncovered another rare fossil in Texas. This time, it's a 60-million-year-old fossil of a giant possum-like mammal that is reported to be the largest marsupial found in the North American Paleocene, according to paleontologists from the University of Kansas.

Discovered at Big Bend National Park, the fossil is being tied to a group of ancient near-marsupials scientists call Swaindelphys, according to a Mondau, June 23 news release from the University of Kansas. Paleontologists from the University of Kansas believe the prehistoric species likely lived during the Paleocene Period, which marks the first subdivision of geologic time after the extinction of the dinosaurs and the end of the Cretaceous Period, according to the National Park Service.

Scientists are reporting the possum-like mammal is a new species of Swaindelphys, calling it Swaindelphys solastella. Kristen Miller, a doctoral student at the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, stated in the release that ancient species was gigantic by the standards of Swaindelphys but still about the size of a modern hedgehog.

"Not only are they the largest metatherians (a group of mammals) from this time period, but they're also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude," Miller, who was also the lead author of the report on the mammal published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on June 17.

Miller's doctoral adviser and co-author, Chris Beard, senior curator with the university's Biodiversity Institute, said their work is aimed at uncovering some of the smaller and harder-to-find fossil mammals that lived in Big Bend at that time. He said the new fossil is notable because it's he largest marsupial, in terms of body size, found so far in the North American Paleocene.

"Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising," Beard said.

Students from the Sul Ross State University Geology program visited Big Bend National Park in March on a research mission and to retrieve dinosaur bones belonging to Alamosaurus. (Courtesy of Sul Ross State University)

One of the largest dinosaurs found in Texas

Researchers have been uncovering fossils at Big Bend National Park for decades. However, the one of the most recent ones was of a huge fossil bone from one of the largest dinosaurs to live in North America, according to Geology students from Sul Ross State University.

The students from the Sul Ross State University Geology program visited Big Bend National Park in March on a research mission and to retrieve dinosaur bones belonging to Alamosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur that lived in North America during the Cretaceous Period, 66 million years ago.

The specimen collected belongs to one of the most complete skeletons in the area, originally collected and described by researchers from the University of Texas in the 1970s.

Team members Erika Blecha, Haley Bjorklund, Justin Garnett and Bryon Schroeder wrap the tusk with strips of plaster-covered burlap that will harden into a cast to protect it during transport. (Courtesy of Devin Pettigrew/CBBS )

Rare mammoth tusk at West Texas ranch

In March, a hunter discovered a rare mammoth tusk at his West Texas ranch. It lead to the discovery of the second Trans-Pecos mammoth artifact ever, according to the Center for Big Bend Studies (CBBS) at Sul Ross State University. CBBS Director Dr. Bryon Schroeder said the tusk was a "very rare" find.

The researchers spent two days plaster-jacketing the tusk, covering it in strips of plaster-covered burlap for protection, and building a frame to transfer it to Sul Ross State University for further study. Schroeder said the last time a tusk was found in Texas was in Fort Stockton in the 1960s. He said it's the only mammoth tusk in the Trans-Pecos that was carbon dated, as that process began in the 1950s.