Partial Embryonic Mosasaur (Platecarpus) Skull - Kansas

This is an amazing partial embryonic skull of the mosasaur Platecarpus coryphaeus, collected from the Late Cretaceous-aged Niobrara Formation (Smoky Hill Chalk) of Gove County, Kansas. It's comprised of 21 individual jaw/skull sections that are all from the same specimen. Partial and complete unerupted teeth can be found within many of the jaw pieces. The premaxilla measures 1.3 x .75", is nearly complete, and is in outstanding condition!

All of the pieces of this specimen are included, along with a riker mount display case.

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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