Note on a Plesiosaur Vertebra from the Greenhorn Formation (Late Cenomanian; Late Cretaceous), Ottawa County, Kansas

In spite of years of collecting and the existence of widespread outcrops of Greenhorn Formation, there is only one previously published record of Cenomanian age plesiosaur remains from Ottawa County, Kansas (Williston 1903; Schumacher and Everhart 2005; Everhart 2007). The crushed cervical vertebra of a large plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Kansas was collected years ago by Leona and Henry K. Ward of Minneapolis, Kansas from an unknown exposure of the lower Greenhorn Formation in northwestern Ottawa County. The vertebra was stored in their garage and subsequently donated to the Sternberg Museum of Natural History from their estate by Susan Ward Aber, their grand daughter, and James S. Aber. This specimen is noteworthy as it is the first record of a polycotylid plesiosaur, and only the second specimen of any kind of plesiosaur from this county.