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A review of the dinosaurs from Kansas

2005; Kansas Academy of Science; Volume: 108; Issue: 1 & 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1660/0022-8443(2005)108[0001

1938-5420

Gregory A. Liggett,

Evolution and Paleontology Studies

Although Kansas is best known for an abundance of marine fossils from the Late Cretaceous, there may be up to 16 dinosaur records from the state. These are (in order of discovery): 1) the Mudge tracks from the Dakota Formation of Clay County; 2) the hadrosaur, Claosaurus agilis, from the Niobrara Chalk of Logan County; 3) the Snow track from the Dakota of Ellsworth County; 4) the “fossil turtle” specimen from the Dakota of Cloud County, which appears to be an ankylosaurid sacrum; 5) a vertebra from the Pierre Shale of Logan County; 6) a partial vertebra from the Kiowa Formation or Cheyenne Sandstone of Clark County; 7) nodosaurid dermal scutes from the Niobrara of Lane County; 8) a partial skeleton of the nodosaurid, “Hierosaurus sternbergii,” from the Niobrara of Gove County; 9) a partial skeleton of the nodosaurid, Niobrarasaurus coleii, from the Niobrara of Gove County; 10) a large slab containing tracks and trackways from the Dakota of Lincoln County; 11) possible dinosaur gastroliths from the Dakota of Clay County; 12) a partial skeleton of the nodosaurid, Silvisaurus condrayi, from the Dakota of Ottawa County; 13) a partial skeleton of a nodosaurid from the Niobrara of Rooks County; 14) a natural mold of a Silvisaurus(?) sacrum from the Dakota of Russell County; 15) two associated limb bones of cf. Niobrarasaurus coleii from the Niobrara of Lane County; and 16) a dinosaur footprint from the Dakota of Ellsworth County. Of these 16 specimens, five (specimens 1, 3, 4, 6, and 11) are lost. The dinosaur record of Kansas spans the late Albian to the early Campanian, and includes diverse depositional settings that are not otherwise well represented in the dinosaur fossil record.