FIRST REPORT OF THE SHELL CRUSHING MOSASAUR, GLOBIDENS SP., FROM THE SHARON SPRINGS MEMBER OF THE PIERRE SHALE (UPPER CRETACEOUS) OF WESTERN KANSAS. Michael J. Everhart*, and Pam A. Everhart, 1006 Morrison Court, Derby, KS 67037.

The right dentary of a marine lizard (Mosasauridae) bearing unusual, bulbous teeth was recovered from the Pierre Shale of Logan County, Kansas, by Pete Bussen of Wallace, Kansas in 1995. Stratigraphically, the specimen was located about 3 m. below the contact of the Weskan and Sharon Springs members (Campanian) of the Pierre Shale and 95 cm. below the lower of two layers of phosphate nodules. The dentary is 35 cm in length and has aveoli for 14 teeth. It was identified as Globidens sp. on the basis of the unique tooth morphology from the descriptions provided by Gilmore (1912) and Russell (1975). Ten teeth were recovered with the specimen, the largest of which is 3 cm in diameter. Although the Kansas specimen is contemporaneous with Globidens dakotensis, it cannot be reliably assigned to that species or G. alabamaensis because neither of the type specimens included the dentarys. J. Martin (personal communication, 1995) has indicated that the lower jaws of an undescribed specimen of Globidens sp. from South Dakota appeared to be more robust than this specimen. According to D. Parris (personal communication, 1995), additional material attributable to Globidens sp. has been found in Texas. This new Kansas specimen provides additional data regarding the range of this genera in the Western Interior Sea.