The Mosasaur Prognathodon from the Upper Cretaceous Lewis Shale near Durango, Colorado and distribution of Prognathodon in North America
— Spencer G. Lucas, Takehito Ikejiri, Heather Maisch, Thomas Joyce, and Gary L. Gianniny

Abstract:

We document an incomplete skeleton of the mosasaur Prognathodon overtoni (Williston) from the middle part of the Lewis Shale southwest of Durango, Colorado. The locality’s stratigraphic position below the Huerfanito Bentonite Bed and associated ammonites of the zone of Baculites perplexus Cobban indicate that the mosasaur is of middle Campanian age. In North America, Prognathodon has a remarkably long (essentially all of the Campanian-Maastrichtian) and geographically broad (west to east coasts) distribution. Prognathodon was a large, deep water predator of the Late Cretaceous seas.


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Recommended Citation:

  1. Lucas, Spencer G.; Ikejiri, Takehito; Maisch, Heather; Joyce, Thomas; Gianniny, Gary L., 2005, The Mosasaur Prognathodon from the Upper Cretaceous Lewis Shale near Durango, Colorado and distribution of Prognathodon in North America, in: Geology of the Chama Basin, Lucas, Spencer G.; Zeigler, Kate E.; Lueth, Virgil W.; Owen, Donald E., New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook, 56th Field Conference, pp. 389-393. https://doi.org/10.56577/FFC-56.389

[see guidebook]