paleonet Kansas Plesiosaurs

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Few people would expect to find plesiosaur remains in Kansas. However, since 1867, Late Cretaceous rocks in Kansas have produced many specimens, including the holotypes of:

Elasmosaurids: _Elasmosaurus platyurus_, _Styxosaurus snowii_

Polycotylids: _Polycotylus latipinnis_, _Dolichorhynchops osborni_,

and _Trinacromerum bentonianum_

Pliosaurids: _Brachauchenius lucasi_

During the past 135 years, there have been many other plesiosaur species named from Kansas, but most were described from fragmentary, indeterminate specimens.

I've recently added a Kansas Plesiosaurs to the Oceans of Kansas website:

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Ks-plesio.html

... that shows examples of Kansas plesiosaur specimens from the most recent (Pierre Shale - Late Cretaceous / Early Campanian) to the earliest known (Kiowa Shale - Early Cretaceous / Albian).

Other updated pages on Oceans of Kansas:

Mosasaurs ate Plesiosaurs

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Tylo-prey.html

Kansas Sharks

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/KS-sharks.html

A Field Guide to Kansas Sharks and Bony Fishes

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/FieldGuide2.html

... including Ray Troll's painting - "We're Not in Kansas Anymore"

A brief photographic tour of the Smoky Hill Chalk – not your usual views while flying low on I-70 across Kansas.

http://www.oceansofkansas.com/SmokyHill.html

Regards,

Mike Everhart

Adjunct Curator of Paleontology

Sternberg Museum of Natural History

Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS