Topeka ? A backer of a decade-long effort to make the Xiphactinus audax (ZY’-fak-tin-us AH’daks) the state’s official fossil is frustrated by talk of choosing the winged Pteranodon longiceps (tehr-RAHN’-uh-dahn LAWN’-jeye-seps) instead.

Both creatures lived when dinosaurs walked the earth.

Kansas fossil hunter Alan Detrich says “egos are getting in the way.”

It all started last week when state Reps. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, and Don Hineman, R-Dighton, introduced a bill to declare the Xiphactinus the state’s official fossil. The lawmakers said they were reconsidering after others suggested different fossils.

Sloan fears the legislation will die if people begin suggesting other fossils.