| Scientific Name: Platecarpus sp. | |
| Common Name: mosasaur | |
 (Click for full-size JPEG) |
Age: Late Cretaceous (83 million years old).  |
| Locality: Niobrara Fm, Smoky Hill Mbr, Logan County, northwestern Kansas. | |
| Source: Geology Museum Expeditions 1988. Found on: Larry & Betty Haverfield's ranch. |
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 (Click for full-size JPEG) |
Notes: The shadows in the top image make viewing somewhat difficult, but notice the pointed (and sharp) teeth and how the limbs are formed into paddles. This reptile was carnivorous (eating fish, turtles, ammonites, sharks and other mosasaurs) and well-adapted for swimming. (Compare with the ichthyosaur.) This skeleton is about 6 m (20 ft) long. You're looking more or less head-on in the bottom image, so the shadows are less distracting. Although this skeleton is suspended from the ceiling, mosasaurs were swimming reptiles, not flying ones (a common misconception for visitors at the Museum). (The mastodon and Dinotherium skull can be seen in the background.) |
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