SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY Order Plesiosauria, de Blainville 1835 Superfamily Plesiosauroidea, Welles 1943 Family Polycotylidae, Cope 1869 Trinacromerum bentonianum Cragin 1888 |
Trinacromerum bentonianum Cragin 1888 was described from
two skulls (USNM 10945 -holotype and USNM 10946 -
paratype) found in the (?) Fairport Chalk Member of the Carlile Shale (Middle Turonian) in
Osborne County, Kansas. Carpenter (1996) assigned both Trinacromerum and Dolichorhynchops to the Polycotylidae. The photos below are of another skull Trinacromerum bentonianum (KUVP-5070) discovered in December, 1936, during the construction of a road-cut along U.S. 81 Highway, south of Concordia (Cloud County), Kansas. According to Riggs (1944, p. 77; see also Lane, 1946) gave the horizon of the specimen as ten feet "below the Jetmore Chalk Member," in the Hartland Shale Member, Greenhorn Limestone. |
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