Cope, E. D.

1869

[Remarks on Holops brevispinus, Ornithotarsus immanis, and Macrosaurus proriger.]

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of  Philadelphia, 11(81):123

Meeting of June 1, 1869

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Last updated  07/19/2009

LEFT: A drawing of the muzzle of the type specimen of Tylosaurus proriger from Cope, 1870, pl. 12, figs. 22, 23.

The type specimen of Tylosaurus proriger (Harvard MCZ 4374) was discovered near Monument Rocks in Logan County by "Col. Connyngham and Mr. Minor," and was obtained by Professor Louis Agassiz during his 1868 visit to western  Kansas (Cope, 1869; Williston, 1898; Russell, 1967). It was the first mosasaur to be described from  Kansas and was originally named “Macrosaurus” proriger by Cope.

The recorded description of the new species by Cope (1869) at the June 1 meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) was brief by modern standards (below). The species name (Macrosaurus” proriger) was referred to by Joseph Liedy in the Proceedingss of the ANSP on January 4 and January 11, 1870.

 

                                        Natural Sciences of Philadelphia                               123

 

June 1st,

The President, Dr. Hays, in the Chair.

Twenty-one members present.

 

            “Prof. Cope exhibited some specimens of extinct reptiles of interest. …”

……………..

             “He made some remarks on a fine fragment of the muzzle of a large Mosasauroid, which pertained to a cranium of near five feet in length. The pterygoid bones were separated from each other, and support nine teeth. A peculiarity of physiognomy was produced by the cylindric prolongation of the premaxillary bone beyond the teeth, and a similar flat prolongation of the extremity of the dentary. He referred the species to Macrosaurus Owen, under the name M. proriger. The specimen he stated belonged to Prof. Agassiz, who obtained it from Western Kansas, probably from the No. 3 of the Upper Cretaceous [Niobrara Fm.] of Hayden.”

     The following year, Cope (1870, Pl. 12, fig. 22-23) described the Harvard specimen more completely, figured it (above) and, with little explanation, referred it to another European genus (Liodon Owen). Two years later, Marsh (1872), apparently recognizing significant differences between the American and European mosasaurs, proposed a new genus (“Rhinosaurus” – nose lizard) from a more complete specimen (YPM 1268) he had collected “near the Smoky Hill River.”  However, that name was preoccupied and Cope (1872) proposed the genus name Rhamphosaurus.

      In a brief note, Marsh (1872b) wrote that "as this name [Rhinosaurus] proves to be preoccupied, it may be replaced with Tylosaurus. The name Rhamphosaurus, since suggested by Prof. Cope, cannot be retained, as it was given to a genus of lizards in 1843 by Fitzinger." Leidy (1873, p. 274) was the first to place “Macrosaurus” proriger Cope 1869 into Tylosaurus Marsh.