7.7" Hadrosaur (Gryposaurus) Maxilla With Stand - Killer Specimen!

Hadrosaur (Gryposaurus) Maxilla With Stand - Killer Specimen! #113075

This is a really spectacular Gryposaurus maxilla (upper jaw) collected this past summer from the Judith River Formation in Montana. It would have been from the right side of the skull on a sub-adult animal. The entire piece is 7.7" long and has a battery of nicely preserved teeth still in place. The display side of the jaw is in excellent condition and well prepped while the back side of the jaw was exposed on the surface and has some weathering. It comes with a custom metal display stand.

Gryposaurus (meaning "hooked-nosed lizard") was a genus of duckbilled dinosaur that lived about 83 to 74 million years ago during the Middle Cretaceous. It is most easily distinguished from other Hadrosaurs by its narrow arching nasal hump, resembling a hooked nose for which it is named. Gryposaurus was a hadrosaurid of typical size and shape, reaching lengths of around 25-30 feet long.

A Gryposaurus skull at the American Natural History Museum. Photo by Steve Lew

The Judith River Formation is one of the world's most prolific sources of Late Cretaceous vertebrate fossils. At least sixteen Orders containing more than forty Genera are known from the formation. These include fish, amphibians, mammals, and insects in addition to reptiles and avian (birds) and non-avian dinosaurs. Among the more interesting specimens is Leonardo, a mummified and fossilized Brachylophosaurus. This is a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur found with amazing soft-tissue preservation: skin impressions can be found on 90 percent of its body! The pattern in the skin on its feet is even preserved. In addition to Leonardo, the Judith River Formation contains the remains of the theropod Hesperornis, the only known freshwater Hespernorthid, a penguin-like bird.