.76" Champsosaurus Vertebrae (Cretaceous Reptile)

Here's a small tail vertebrae from the Cretaceous aged reptile Champsosaurus laramiensis. It was collected from private land in the Hell Creek formation, the same formation that is famous for producing fossils of T-Rex. Being an underground, (not surface collected) find in has better preservation than most with almost no surface erosion.

Champsosaurus
Reconstruction by Nobu Tamura
Reconstruction by Nobu Tamura
is an extinct genus of diapsid reptile belonging to the order Choristodera. It grew to about 1.50 m (5 ft) long, though C. gigas, the largest species, reached 3-3.5 m (10–12 ft) in length. Champsosaurus resembled a gharial and, like gharials, hunted in rivers and swamps, catching fish with its long, tooth-lined jaws. It probably swam with lateral body movements, pinning its limbs against its body to increase its streamline, just like crocodiles and the Marine Iguana. Behind the eyes Champsosaurus's skull was very wide as powerful jaw muscles were attached here.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Champsosaurus laramiensis
LOCATION
Powder River County, Montana
FORMATION
Hell Creek Formation
SIZE
.76" wide, .62" long
ITEM
#10828
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