Fall fieldwork!

There's nothing quite like a nice October day in the Niobrara chalk. Lots of hiking, fresh air, and occasionally a few fossils.

Scrappy Cimolichthys verts in the outcrop

Though the puropse of this past 2 1/2 day trip was primarily for scouting, we did return with a few jackets of specimens, including a nice Ichthyodectes tail from the lower chalk and part of a giant Clidastes from the upper chalk. We'll be returning very soon to recover the rest of the Clidastes, as well as a new Nyctosaurus specimen I discovered on Friday (more on that later), and possibly the Pentanogmius I located, or one of the 3 xiphs I stumbled across. It's good to have so many choices.

Mike evaluating a Xiphactinus skull

Interesting thing about the Clidastes. The tail is chock-full of pathological vertebrae, from what looks to be an old infected bite wound. No clue yet as to whether the bite was from a shark or another mosasaur, however from all the intraspecific damage we see on other specimens, I wouldn't doubt it was the result of Clidastes-on-Clidastes violence.

Ouch! Most certainly a grumpy mosasaur

Nyctosaurus restoration finished!

Beautifully detailed specimen

We've added another flying critter to our family of casts. This time it's a restoration of a female Nyctosaurus gracilis. This is the smaller of the two flying reptiles found in the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas, and by far the most rare. Contact me if you're interested in a copy. We're offering a substantial discount off of our introductory price through the end of August.

Top-ish view showing lack of wing claws

Look out for that Pteranodon!

Our restoration ended up with a wingspan of 7 feet. We'll be debuting the crested male specimen in a few weeks, so keep tuned for updates. Also come to the museum to see this specimen now proudly on display in out exhibit hall.