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Description Of An Unusual Cervical Vertebral Column Of A Plesiosaur From The Kiowa Shale, Ian N. Cost
Description Of An Unusual Cervical Vertebral Column Of A Plesiosaur From The Kiowa Shale, Ian N. Cost
Master's Theses
The Early Cretaceous (Albian) Kiowa Shale of Clark County, Kansas consists mainly of dark gray shale with occasional limestone deposits that represent a near shore environment. Faunal lists have been published based on fragmentary materials; however, few individual specimens have been described in the last 100 years. Here an unusual plesiosaur specimen (KUVP 16375) is described. The specimen consists of 17 cervical vertebrae: 10 articulated and 7 disarticulated. Some of the vertebrae are uniquely preserved with an atypical ventral excavation not present in known plesiosaur vertebrae. It is not clear whether or not this character is of phylogenetic or diagnostic …