3.75" Dinosaur (Thescelosaurus?) Caudal Vertebra w/ Stand - Montana

Dinosaur (Thescelosaurus?) Caudal Vertebra w/ Stand - Montana #245946

This is a 3.75" tall, anterior caudal vertebra of a dinosaur (Thescelosaurus?), collected from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation in Fallon County, Montana. The bone preservation is excellent with preserved cortical bone in spots. The neural canal is intact, along with the prezygapophyses and portions of each process.

Comes with the pictured display stand.

Isolated vertebra from Thescelosaurus and Pachycephalosaurus can be difficult to distinguish between without the processes, however what's left of the transverse processes and spinous process indicates that this is very likely from near the base of the tail of Thescelosaurus.

There are repaired cracks throughout the vertebral arch with the most notable repairs being just anterior to the right postzygapophysis and at the base of each prezygapophysis. The spinous process and transverse processes are missing.

Thescelosaurus was a small ornithopod dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. Many specimens' preservation and completeness indicate that Thescelosaurus may have preferred to live near streams.

This bipedal ornithopod is known from several partial skeletons and skulls, all of which indicate adult lengths between 2.5 and 4.0 meters (8.2 to 13.1 feet) on average. It had sturdy hind limbs, small wide hands, and a head with an elongated pointed snout. Their teeth and jaw morphologies suggest a primarily herbivorous diet.

An artist's reconstruction of Thescelosaurus. Creative Commons License

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.

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