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LOCKESBURG, Ark. (AP) — A scientific journal has given its imprimatur to Arkansas’ state dinosaur, noting that its kind flourished in Asia but are not well-represented in North America.

Details about the Arkansaurus fridayi (ar-kan-SAW’-rus fry-day-YEYE’) were published Monday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Joe Friday discovered the bones near Lockesburg in 1972 while searching for a missing cow.

Researcher ReBecca Hunt-Foster said in the journal article that the species is one of the oldest basal ornithomimosaurs (ohr-NITH’-oh-MEE’-moh-saurs) in North America. She and fellow researcher James Quinn said additional discoveries would help scientists know more about the species.

Hunt-Foster is a University of Arkansas graduate who now works at the Bureau of Land Management in Moab, Utah.