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Xiphactinus audax oil painting © Ron Garrett, Used with permission of Ron Garrett Xiphactinus audax Leidy 1870 (...not Portheus molossus Cope 1872) Largest Bony Fish of the Late Cretaceous Seas Copyright © 2000-2008 by Mike Everhart - Last revised 05/14/2008 |
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| One of the largest Xiphactinus audax known (17 feet long) - Early Santonian age, Smoky Hill Chalk Formation, Gove County, KS. Discovered by Mike Everhart, 1996. Collected, prepared and displayed by Triebold Paleontology. |
After his 1871 trip to Kansas, E.D. Cope (1872a) was reported to have said, "At a similar location on Fox Creek, M. V. Hartwell found the skeleton of a very large fish, with "uncommonly powerful offensive dentition," probably of the Saurodonts. He [Cope] names this Cretaceous species Portheus molossus.
In a later report Cope (1872b) wrote, "The head was as long or longer than that of a fully grown grizzly bear, and the jaws were deeper in proportion to their length. The muzzle was shorter and deeper than that of a bull-dog. The teeth were all sharp cylindric fangs, smooth and glistening, and of irregular size. At certain distance in each jaw they projected three inches above the gum, and were sunk one inch into the jaw margin, being thus as long as the fangs of a tiger, but more slender. Two such fangs crossed each other on each side of the middle of the front. This fish is known as Portheus molossus, Cope [Xiphactinus audax Leidy]. Besides the smaller fishes, the reptiles no doubt supplied the demands of his appetite."
"The Portheus, now swimming for life, was the foci of the sharks that were coming to the attack from all directions. One would dive under the fish, and receive, for his pains, a stroke from his powerful tail that would put him out of commission; another would receive a thrust from the sword-like ray of the front fin. Undaunted, others hurried up like a pack of wolves on a wounded deer. Though many were wounded in the fray, our hero fish at last succumbed to numbers, who gashed his body with their lance-like teeth, and the water was tinged with his life blood, until, weakened and overpowered, he gradually ceased struggling. The sharks gathered to the feast. One, however, was so badly wounded by the Portheus, that he went to the oozy bottom with him. I have preserved in the Museum of the University of Kansas a shark twenty-five feet long, and mingled with his remains were the bones of a Portheus, the evident result of such a combat … “ Excerpted from Charles H. Sternberg's "Hunting Dinosaurs on the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada" (1917, p. 162). While the passage from C H. Sternberg's book is fiction, it is based on the discovery of the remains (KUVP 247) of a large Cretoxyrhina mantelli (Ginsu shark) that also contains the scattered bones of a large Xiphactinus as its last meal. The specimen is on exhibit in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History in Lawrence, Kansas (below) |
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Sometimes, the tables were turned and the hunter became the meal. This is photograph of a disarticulated shark specimen (KUVP 247) at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. The interesting thing about the find was the remains of a large Xiphactinus audax inside the shark when it died. Note the large lower jaw, with teeth, in the upper center of this picture. Xiphactinus ribs are also scattered among the shark vertebrae. The skull of the shark (Cretoxyrhina mantelli) was preserved with dozens of teeth still in place in the jaws. (Found by George Sternberg, 1908 and described by Charles H. Sternberg in 1917 (see above note). |
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Xiphactinus audax, [Zy-fac-tin-us] or as it
is more commonly called, the "Bulldog Fish", was a species of very large
predatory fish that lived in the ocean during the Late Cretaceous. LEFT: A detailed drawing by Prentice of the skull of Xiphactinus from volume 6 of the University Geological Survey of Kansas (Stewart, 1900). LARGE FILE RIGHT: The articulated skull of a large Xiphactinus audax in our collection in right lateral view (scale = 10 cm). This specimen was found by my wife in 1989 in Gove County and prepared out by Katie Conkling in 2007, including the discovery of two Squalicorax falcatus teeth lying on the sagittal crest. (A view of partially prepared left side of the skull is HERE) The "Evil Eye" was added by her son, Mike.... |
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RELATED HISTORICAL NOTE: Leidy (1856) gave a short description of a single tooth found in the Cretaceous marl of New Jersey and named it Polygonodon vetus: "Based on a specimen of the crown of a tooth found in the marl (cretaceous) of Burlington County by L. T. Germain, Esq., Length three times the breadth; transverse section elliptical; with trenchant borders; with six planes on one side and seven on the other. Length 1½ inches, breadth ½ an inch. May be an incisor of Mososaurus [sic]?" Leidy (1865) described the tooth in greater detail and included three figures (left) showing what it looked like in (12) posterior, (13) external view, and in cross section. Still believing the tooth to be reptilian, he thought it "may have belonged to Discosaurus or Cimoliasaurus, but the matter must be left for future determination." The tooth was later determined to be from a sister species of Xiphactinus audax, raising the issue of which genus name should have priority... Polygonodon Leidy 1856 or Xiphactinus Leidy 1870? See Schwimmer, et al. (1997) for a more detailed explanation. Most likely it will remain Xiphactinus. |
| Although they were not closely related, a Xiphactinus would have looked much like a modern Tarpon. The fish probably attained lengths of 18 to 20 feet, and some 'giant vertebrae' from marine deposits in Arkansas indicate that some individuals that were even larger. Xiphactinus audax skeleton woodcut © Ron Garrett, Used with permission of Ron Garrett |  |
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While the name Xiphactinus has been around since 1870,
there has been considerable confusion over which name is actually correct? : Xiphactinus audax (Leidy, 1870) or Portheus molossus (Cope, 1872).
In 1870, Joseph Leidy named the fish from a 16 inch (40 cm) long fragment of a pectoral fin (USNM 52 - above), collected by Dr. George M. Sternberg, a year before E. D. Cope gave the name of Portheus molossus to a collection of several nearly complete specimens found near Fort Wallace. Leidy's name is correct by virtue of being the first to be published, but Cope's name was more popular and is still in use in many collections of Cretaceous fish. As shown in the picture at left, the head of the fish is about 8-10 feet above the surface of the water. That's BIG!! - Painting by D. W. Miller © D. W. Miller, used with permission. |
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The fossilized remains of these fish, especially skull fragments and vertebrae, are fairly common in the Smoky Hill Chalk and often are very complete, such as this famous fossil of a "fish-within-a-fish" excavated by George F. Sternberg in 1952 (George is on the far left in the picture at left and second from in the left in the picture at right). This specimen is about 13 feet long and is on permanent display in the Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas. The six foot long, 'last' meal' is a related species of ichthyodectid fish called Gillicus arcuatus. George F. Sternberg was the grand nephew of the Dr. George M. Sternberg who sent the original Xiphactinus material to Dr. Joseph Leidy from Kansas sometime before 1870. |  |
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The famous "fish-within-a-fish"
Xiphactinus audax specimen (FHSM VP-333) at the Sternberg
Museum of Natural History (Click picture to see much larger version (190 kb). The
stomach contents (a large Gillicus arcuatus) is curated as FHSM VP-334. The Xiphactinus
is just over 13 feet long. Contact me for a copy (.pdf file) of Myrl V. Walker's account of the discovery and recovery of this famous specimen: "The Impossible Fossil." It's an interesting historical account and a great description of the "Sternberg method." |
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Another specimen of Xiphactinus audax (originally AMNH 322199; new number is AMNH FF 13102) collected in 1901 by C.H. and G. F. Sternberg, and sold to the American Museum of Natural History. (15 feet, 8 inches long, see Osborn, 1904 for description). |
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Still another G. F. Sternberg specimen of Xiphactinus audax. This one is in the Yale Peabody Museum collection. See Thorpe (1934). |
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LEFT: The original Xiphactinus audax specimen
(3.5 m) displayed in the museum at Fort Hays State University; collected and prepared by
G.F. Sternberg in 1946. This specimen was later replaced by the current
"fish-within-a-fish" exhibit. RIGHT: A recent picture of this same specimen (University of Nebraska State Museum: UNSM 1495) |
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This specimen (above) was initially displayed at the Kansas State Teachers College (now Fort Hays State University) before being replaced by the famous "fish-in-a-fish" specimen. It was sold to the University of Nebraska State Museum where it is currently on exhibit. Note that the specimen also contains a partially digested fish as stomach contents.
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LEFT: Two views in the field of another Sternberg Xiphactinus collected
near Monument Rocks in Gove County - From the archives of the Fick Fossil and
History Museum, Oakley, Kansas. RIGHT: The "business end" of 15 foot long Xiphactinus audax collected and prepared by G. F. Sternberg in 1946 from Gove County, KS. You can see the caudal fin of a 7 foot long Gillicus just behind the gills of the Xiphactinus. Although the smaller fish is partially digested, the death of the larger fish probably occurred within hours of this last meal. The specimen (DMNH 1667) is currently on exhibit in the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. (See Rogers, 1991, p. 244-246) |
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| Charles H. Sternberg (1922) reported that he had found a remarkable skeleton of "Portheus." He noted that "it was preserved from the pelvic fins to the end of the tail, and is the largest Portheus I have seen. The spread of the tail fins is five feet. In 1918, my son Levi found a skull and body part of a Portheus that is so near in size to this one that I have made a composite skeleton of the two. It is sixteen feet long and will be, as I said, the largest bony fish ever collected from the Cretaceous." |
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LEFT: Xiphactinus as the last
meal of a large shark - KUVP 247 in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. George F. Sternberg discovered the remains of a large Cretoxyrhina mantelli (Ginsu shark) in Trego County that contained the scattered bones of a large Xiphactinus as its last meal. The specimen was sold to the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History in Lawrence, Kansas where it is currently on display.. Larger view of the Cretoxyrhina jaws and teeth. Larger view of the exhibit Larger view of the Xiphactinus remains found inside the shark |
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The Fick Fossil and History Museum at Oakley Kansas has a large Xiphactinus audax specimen that was found and prepared by G. F. Sternberg in 1926. It was originally purchased by the town of Oakley for their public schools (Rogers, 1991). This specimen is about 13.5 ft long. The fish is so large that I had to take four photographs to get all of it into this composite photograph. |
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LEFT; G. F. Sternberg puts some final touches on the Xiphactinus audax specimen he sold to the Oakley School system. (Photo in the G.F. Sternberg archives, Forsyth Library, Fort Hays State University) |
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LEFT: G. F. Sternberg (at right, white lab coat) talks about this specimen with students of the Oakley Public Schools about 1926 when it was acquired by the the school for exhibit. (Photo in the G.F. Sternberg archives, Forsyth Library, Fort Hays State University) |
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LEFT: Click the thumbnail for a better view of the business end of the above specimen of Xiphactinus audax. The largest teeth are in the upper jaw in two paired bones called 'premaxillae'. They are about three inches long and are conical in shape for seizing prey. Unlike many large sharks of the period, Xiphactinus swallowed its prey whole. This tended to get them in trouble, particularly when the prey was large and struggling. A number of specimens have been found with large, undigested fish still inside, suggesting that the larger fish died while or immediately after swallowing its prey. |
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LEFT: The skull of another Xiphactinus audax in the Fick
Fossil and History Museum, Oakley, Kansas. Recently I found G. F. Sternberg's field
notes regarding the discovery, preparation, and disposition of this specimen: "Oct.
28th, 1924 - Sp. 3 – Portheus molossus of Cope
Locality - 3/4 mile south of the locality of no. 2 |
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LEFT: The "exploded" skull of a relatively small Xiphactinus
(FHSM VP-2973) from the Smoky Hill Chalk collected by Marion and Orville Bonner in 1959.
This fish would have been only about 8 feet long when it died. Fish skulls often come
apart like this during decomposition. RIGHT: The very impressive lower right dentary (medial view) and right premaxilla of the same specimen. |
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LEFT: Unusual preservation of a Xiphactinus audax skull
(FHSM VP-16440) in left lateral view. The specimen was collected in 2005 from the upper
chalk of western Gove County. The lower jaw is smashed backwards to the point that it is
nearly perpendicular to the vertebral column. This would suggest a high speed, head-first
impact with a sea bottom that was NOT soft mud. RIGHT: The same specimen looking head on. Note that the large teeth in the lower jaws are pushed up between the premaxillae and that the "facial" region of the skull, including the orbit of the left eye has been crushed inward. HERE IS a close-up of the front of the jaws. |
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LEFT: An upside down view of a large Xiphactinus audax
(FHSM VP-9256) skull in the Sternberg collection. The skull must have landed upright on
the sea bottom and was buried and later preserved that way. The large tooth at the right
is about 2 inches long. RIGHT: Close-up of the same skull showing the left maxilla laying outside the left dentary. The small bones (hyoids) between the lower jaws support the gills. |
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LEFT: A close-up of the scapulo-coracoid bone of FHSM VP- 9256)
showing where the pectoral fins are attached. The specimen was collected by T. E. Herman
in 1987 from Ellis County. RIGHT: The photo shows the extent of the bony pectoral fins of Xiphactinus. The fin ray on the fin in the left side of the picture is 55 cm (22 in.) long. Note that most of the leading edge of the fin is actually composed of a much shorter fin ray. |
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LEFT and RIGHT: Two views of the vertebrae of Xiphactinus audax. Large vertebrae like these are fairly common finds in the chalk. These specimens are medium in size for Xiphactinus, about 5 cm (2 in.) in diameter and 3 cm. long, and probably came from a fish that was about 3 m (12 ft) in length. According to Bardack (1965), Xiphactinus had an average of 85 vertebra. |  |
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This Xiphactinus audax (ESU 1047) skull is on exhibit at the Geology Museum at Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas. It had been bitten by a large Ginsu (Cretoxyrhina) shark which left a calling card in the form for a broken tooth wedged in the third vertebrae behind the skull. (See Shimada and Everhart, 2004) |
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LEFT: This is a picture of a large Xiphactinus (BMNH P.
11125) in the British Museum of Natural History. The specimen was found by George
Sternberg and sold to the museum by Charles Sternberg. The picture was taken by the
parents of Charles Choguill, when they were in London in 1959-1960. According to Mr.
Choguill, this specimen and other Kansas fossils were no longer on exhibit when he visited
the BMNH in 1971. More recently (10/2007), Matt Friedman indicated that it was currently
on display in the Earth Gallery (the old Museum of Geology). RIGHT:, George Sternberg uncovers the skull of another Xiphactinus (Photo provided by Charles Choguill). |
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The following is a note written in regard to the above specimen (Sternberg, 1917, p. 11-12) and includes Charles Sternberg's annotations of a story in the London Illustrated News: "In 1911, I sent George to western Kansas with a party to collect in the Chalk, and with wonderful results; for though I had secured four skeletons of the famous Tarpon-like fish of the Cretaceous, named Portheus molossus by Cope, he succeeded in finding the most complete skeleton known to science, now mounted in the British Museum of Natural History, in London. Mr. Pycraft has pictured it in the London Illustrated News for March 1, 1913. "The giant to which I refer now" (he says) , "has been dead a very long while, a million years or so [over 5,000,000 - C. H. S.]. Its remains in a most extraordinary state of preservation, will be found in the Geological Gallery. Measuring just fourteen feet in length, it must have weighed between four and five hundred pounds [a thousand likely. - C. H. S.]. It was obtained from the chalk of Kansas, and has quite a remarkable history. It was found by Professor Sternberg, who has achieved a world-wide fame for his discovery of fossil fish and his quite amazing skill in digging his finds from the rock in which they are embedded. The specimen was found [by George F. Sternberg], exposed at the surface of the ground, and was much the worse for wear and tear of wind and rain and sun. But Professor Sternberg was equal to the occasion. For just as there are two sides to every question, so there are two sides to every fossil. The resourceful discoverer determined to get at the other side of this very stale fish; for the exposed side was useless. Accordingly he covered it with a thick layer of plaster of Paris and when this was set he proceeded to dig out the fossil from the bed of chalk. This accomplished, he cut away the rock from the specimen, and eventually succeeded in exposing the whole fish." [The underside at least.- C. H. S.]" |
Click here to see pictures of a dig done by Triebold Paleontology on a very large (17 ft - 5.2 m) Xiphactinus that I found in in 1996 in Gove County, KS. This specimen is on exhibit in the North American Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah and elsewhere with the traveling "Savage Ancient Seas©" exhibit. In September, 2003, I examined a beautiful, completely articulated specimen that had been found by a private collector in Trego County. It would have been 17 feet long but was missing the front part of the skull.
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| This specimen shown above is certainly the largest example of this species ever mounted and may the the largest complete specimen ever found. In her book on the Sternberg fossil hunters, Rogers (1991, p. 250) mentions that George Sternberg had found specimens as long as seventeen feet (5.1 m), but they were not complete. The remains also included stomach contents consisting of a partially digested Gillicus. |
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Although we know that Xiphactinus grew to be very large as adults, we know very little about them as juveniles. So far as I am aware, there are no juvenile specimens of this species in the Sternberg, or University of Kansas collections. At LEFT and RIGHT are two views of a very small specimen of Xiphactinus audax that I collected in 1999. It still needs to be prepared, but consists of one premaxilla and both of the dentarys which are preserved together. When alive, this fish would have only been about 30 cm (12 in) long. The single tooth in the premaxilla measures 8 mm, compared with 65+ mm in a large adult. Until these little guys grew up, they were food for everything larger than they were... very few made it. |  |
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This nearly complete Xiphactinus specimen was discovered and prepared by Chuck Bonner. It is on exhibit in the Keystone Gallery, 25 miles south of Oakley in Logan County, Kansas. This fish must have bloated after death and then was contorted into this unusual shape. |
Click here to see pictures of the 3-D mount of a large Xiphactinus audax in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma.
Other Oceans of Kansas webpages on Late Cretaceous fish:
Field Guide to Sharks and Bony Fish of the Smoky Hill Chalk
Sharks:
Bony Fish
Plethodids:
Suggested References:
Bardack, D., 1965. Anatomy and evolution of Chirocentrid fishes. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Article 10, 88 pp. 2 pl.
Cope, E. D., 1871. On the fossil reptiles and fishes of the Cretaceous rocks of Kansas. Art. 6, pp. 385-424 (no figs.) of Pt. 4, Special Reports, 4th Ann. Rpt., U.S. Geol. Surv. Terr. (Hayden), 511 p. (Cope describes and names Portheus molossus)
Cope, E. D., 1872a. On Kansas vertebrate fossils. American Journal of Science, Series 3, 3(13):65.
Cope, E. D., 1872b. On the geology and paleontology of the Cretaceous strata of Kansas. Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana and Portions of the Adjacent Territories, Part III - Paleontology, pp. 318-349.
Cope, E. D., 1872c. [Sketch of an expedition in the valley of the Smoky Hill River in Kansas]. Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. 12(87):174-176.
Cope, E. D., 1872d. On the families of fishes of the Cretaceous formation in Kansas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 12(88):327-357.
Hay, O. P. 1898. Observations on the genus of fossil fishes called by Professor Cope, Portheus, by Dr. Leidy, Xiphactinus. Zoological Bulletin 2(1): 25-54.
Hay, O. P., 1898. Observations on the genus of Cretaceous fishes called by Professor Cope Portheus. Science, 7(175):646.
| Hay noted, "Professor O. P. Hay made some 'Observations on the genus of Cretaceous Fishes, called by Professor Cope Portheus' discussing the osteology of the genus at some length and particularly the skull, shoulder girdle and vertebral column. He said that in many respects it resembled the Tarpon of our Southern coasts, although possessing widely different teeth, and undoubtedly belonged to the Isospondyli. The conclusion reached that Cope's Portheus is identical with the earlier described genus Xiphactinus of Leidy. (Since the paper was read, the author has learned that Professor Williston has reached the same conclusion.)" |
Leidy, J., 1856. Notices on remains of extinct vertebrated animals of New Jersey, collected by Prof. Cook of the State Geological Survey under the Direction of Dr. W. Kitchell. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 8:221. (printed in 1857 - Naming of Polygonodon vetus, a sister species of Xiphactinus audax, and Ischyrhiza mira Leidy)
Leidy, J.
, 1865. Cretaceous reptiles of the United States. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 14(6):1-135, pls. I-XX. (Three figures and a more detailed description of the tooth of Polygonodon (Xiphactinus) vetus Leidy 1856) <EM>Leidy, J., 1870. [Remarks on ichthyodorulites and on certain fossil Mammalia.]. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. 22:12-13. (The naming of Xiphactinus audax from a fragment of a pectoral fin found by Dr. George M. Sternberg (then an Army Surgeon serving in Kansas) in the chalk of western Kansas --- this paper pre-dates Cope's 1872 description of Portheus molossus by over a year).
Osborn, H. F., 1904. The great Cretaceous fish Portheus molossus Cope. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. 20, Art. 31, pp. 377-381, pl. 10. [AMNH 322199]
Rogers, K., 1991. A dinosaur dynasty: The Sternberg fossil hunters, Mountain Press Publishing Company, 288 pages.
Schwimmer, D. R., J. D. Stewart, and G. D. Williams, 1997. Xiphactinus vetus and the distribution of Xiphactinus species in the eastern United States. Journ. Vert. Paleo. 17(3):610-615.
Shimada, K. and M. J. Everhart. 2004. Shark-bitten Xiphactinus audax (Teleostei: Ichthyodectiformes) from the Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) of Kansas. The Mosasaur 7, p. 35-39.
Sternberg, C. H. 1917. Hunting Dinosaurs in the Badlands of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. Published by the author, San Diego, Calif., 261 pp.
Sternberg, C. H., 1922. Field work in Kansas and Texas. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 30(2):339-348.
Stewart, A., 1898. Individual variations in the genus Xiphactinus Leidy. Kansas Univ. Quar. 7(3):116-119, pl. VII, VIII, IX, X.
| Stewart placed a short note on page 116 acknowledging that Xiphactinus Leidy 1870 has priority over Portheus Cope 1872."Xiphactinus audax Leidy (Proc. Acad. Sci. Phila., 1870, p. 12) has been shown to the a synonym of Saurocephalus Cope (U.S. Geol. Surv., Wyoming, etc. 1872, p. 418). In a letter to Prof. Mudge, dated October 28, 1870, which will shortly be published in the fourth volume of the Kansas University Geological Survey, Cope refers it to Saurocephalus thaumas (Portheus thaumas Cope). After carefully comparing the description and figure of the pectoral spine of X. audax I was led to the same conclusion; and as the genus Portheus was not made known by Cope until 1871 (Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., 1871, p. 173), according to the rules of nonclamature Xiphactinus should have priority." |
Stewart, A., 1899. Notice of three new Cretaceous fishes, with remarks on the Saurodontidae Cope. Kansas Univ. Quar. 8(3):107-112. (Xiphactinus, Protosphyraena gigas and Empo (Cimolichthys))
Stewart, A., 1900. Teleosts of the Upper Cretaceous. The University Geological Survey of Kansas. Topeka 4:257-403, 6 figs., pls. 33-78.
Stovall, J. W. 1932. Xiphactinus audax, a fish from the Cretaceous of Texas. University of Texas Bulletin No. 3201:87-92, 1 pl.
Thorpe, M. R. 1934. A new mounted specimen of Portheus molossus Cope. American Journal of Science, 5th series, 28(164):121-126, 2 fig.
Walker, M.V. 1982. The Impossible Fossil. University Forum, Fort Hays State University 26: 4pp.
Walker, M.V. 2006. The impossible fossil - Revisited. Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions 109 (1/2), p. 87-96. (.pdf copies available on request).
For younger readers, see also:
Cutchins, J. and G. Johnston. 2001. Giant Predators of the Ancient Seas. Pineapple Press, Inc. Sarasota, Fl. 64 pp.
Adapted from an image of Xiphactinus audax at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. Used with permission.
Photo by Judy Cutchins © 2001 - Savage Ancient Seas exhibition, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, GA.
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