SUNBURY -- In appreciation to state lawmakers who passed a resolution recognizing their efforts reconstructing an Apatosaurus dinosaur, experts at a Sunbury-based venture displayed the fossilized skull of a diplodocus dinosaur in the Rotunda of the state Capitol this week.

Apollo the diplodocus soon will go to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where paleontologist/curator Mark Norell will put it on display before making it available for study by scientists, including renowned vertebrate paleontologist Robert T. Bakker.

A diplodocus was a large, plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period.

"This is a spectacular and rare diplodocus skull with its neck vertebrae," said Barry James, of Sunbury, who with his wife, April, operates Prehistoric Journeys. "Next, I have the continued honor of preparing the rest of the bones comprising Apollo's complete skeleton and custom-mounting it for the owners, Raimund Albersdoefer and Henry Galiano, of Dinosauria International."

After researchers study the skull, it will be returned to Prehistoric Journeys so that it can be reconstructed with other portions of the juvenile dinosaur's remains.

The 150-million-year-old skeleton was discovered in northern Wyoming and is believed to be 85 percent complete.

Founded in 1987, Prehistoric Journeys is a professional paleontological services company that has brought 155 skeletons of dinosaurs and extinct mammals back to life for museums, national parks, entertainment and cultural centers, movie studios and major corporations.