Photographs From a Day Out West

Taking Flight: Rare Bird Discovery

Ichthyornis (sp?)
Rare bird skeleton
Discovered: August 17 2014
Smoky Hill Chalk (L. Cretaceous)
Gove county KS, USA
Currently under preparation in the Sternberg Museum of Natural History

Radius, ulna, sternum, lower jaws:

***Images redacted, pending publication of research paper***

 Skull material? Coracoid, much still to be identified:

Information on Ichthyornis

- It was the first discovered prehistoric bird preserved with teeth

- Charles Darwin told Marsh in an 1880 letter that Ichthyornis offered "the best support for the theory of evolution" since he had first published On the Origin of Species in 1859
- It is estimated that there are fewer than a dozen specimens with this level of completeness

Open Skies

Discovery: New Mosasaur

Tylosaurus kansasensis 
Mosasaur
Discovered: May 19 2014
Smoky Hill Chalk (L. Cretaceous)
Gove county KS, USA

Here is the overall view of the dig site:

Once home, the lengthy prep work began. The skull is far from complete but has some very cool elements.

Here are parts of the skull once they have been removed and cleaned:

Before and After: Xiphactinus

Xiphactinus audax
Fossil Fish Jaw
Smoky Hill Chalk (Cretaceous)
Gove county KS, USA

Before:

Prep involved: Tooth restoration, Placement in plaster slab, Matrix removal

After:

-KansasFossilHunter (Kris)

Mosasaur (The Return)

Platecarpus ictericus
Mosasaur
Discovered: February 20, 2014
Smoky Hill Chalk (L. Cretaceous)
Gove county KS, USA

This is the other section of the lower jaw that was excavated on the December 28th Hunt. Read about the initial discovery here: ( http://kansasfossilhunter.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-28th-fossil-hunt.html )

First "In field" picture:

Progress:

With the jaw from the December 28th hunt (from same animal):

-KansasFossilHunter (Kris)

From the Collection: Baby Xiphactinus

Xiphactinus audax
(Baby) giant fish
Discovered: July 10, 2012
Smoky Hill Chalk (L. Cretaceous)
Kansas, USA
Length of jaw- 4 cm

 

Here you can see the only other juvenile Xiphactinus specimen (bottom of the page)- http://oceansofkansas.com/xiphac.html The fish would only have been about 1 ft long in life (.3 meters), while the adults could grow up to 20 ft (6 meters)

This is truly a one of a kind fish!