10.8" Hadrosaur (Edmontosaurus) Maxilla With Teeth - Montana

Hadrosaur (Edmontosaurus) Maxilla With Teeth - Montana #242303

This is a beautifully preserved, 10.8" long maxilla from the right side of the skull of Edmontosaurus annectens, with many of the teeth still in place. It comes from the Late Cretaceous-aged Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana. The preservation of the bone is exceptional, with very little restoration required to piece this beauty back together. Hadrosaur material of this quality seldom appears on the market. It sits nicely on the accompanied custom metal display stand.

Many of the small details of the bone still remain, including the interesting alveolar foramina that would have housed the nerves and blood vessels of the teeth. Also... Look at all those teeth! This maxilla still contains a nearly complete battery of teeth with worn feeding surfaces from grinding down foliage.

It did require some spots of crack repair where the bone fractured and separated within the rock. Restoration is in the form of gap fill and was only required in spots where fragments of bone were lost where it fractured. The remaining fractures have been lightly filled to ensure the specimen stays together. Glue stabilization can be found along the base of the teeth on each side of the jaw.

Hadrosaurs

are frequently referred to as duck-billed dinosaurs and are members of the Ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. They were fairly common herbivores that roamed Asia, Europe, and North America during the Upper Cretaceous Period. Many species of Hadrosaurs had distinctive crests on their heads, some of which had air-filled chambers that may have produced a distinct sound. These crests may have been used for both audio and visual display purposes.

Because of its age and sedimentary composition, the Hell Creek Formation has become one of the most paleontologically studied areas in the world. 158 genera of animals and 64 genera of plants are known from the formation and new discoveries are made frequently. In addition to Tyrannosaurs, Ceratopsids, and Hadrosaurs, the formation has yielded remains of amphibians, reptiles, lizards, snakes and turtles, fish and sharks, avian and non-avian dinosaurs, and mammals. The Hell Creek Formation gives the most complete understanding of the environment just before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.

More about Hadrosaurs