6.8" Mosasaur Rib Section with Shark Bite Marks! - Kansas

Mosasaur Rib Section with Shark Bite Marks! - Kansas #197825

This is a killer 6.8" long, rib section of the Mosasaur, Platecarpus coryphaeus. It comes from the Late Cretaceous, Smoky Hill Chalk in Gove County, Kansas. The bone preservation on the rib is amazing, but what really sets this specimen apart are the multiple bite marks. Shark bite marks. These bites appear as a long gashes and crushed indentations on various faces of the rib. The restoration is minimal and any repaired cracks were expertly stabilized. This awesome specimen shouldn't be overlooked.

An artist's reconstruction of Platecarpus. By Dmitry Bogdanov Creative Commons License

Platecarpus is an extinct aquatic lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. Fossils have been found in the United States as well as possible specimens in Belgium and Africa. It reached lengths of up to 14 feet long: half of that length was its tail alone. Platecarpus probably fed on fish, squid, and ammonites. Like other mosasaurs, it was initially thought to have swum in an eel-like fashion, though a recent study suggests that it swam more like modern sharks.

The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk formation is a Cretaceous conservation Lagerstätte, or fossil-rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved marine reptiles. It outcrops in parts of northwest Kansas--its most famous localities for fossils--and in southeastern Nebraska. Large, well-known fossils excavated from the Smoky Hill Chalk include marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, large bony fish such as Xiphactinus, mosasaurs, pterosaurs, and turtles.

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