4" Pterosaur Bone Sections - Smoky Hill Chalk, Kansas

This is a 4" bone sections of a Pterosaurs, still in the chalk it was found in. Pterosaurs (flying reptiles) were the first vertebrates to take wing and evolved during the Late Triassic. Almost all of the known remains of Pteranodon come from the Smoky Hill Chalk of west Kansas. A few are found in the overlying Pierre Shale in Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming. They were superbly adapted for flight, with hollow, air-filled bones, a relatively large, birdlike brain and membranous wings that were supported by the elongated fourth finger of each hand.

This specimen also includes a small (.2") Ichthyodectes tooth nested onto one of the bone sections.