Tylosaur skull cast replica.

LARGE TYLOSAUR SKULL & JAW REPLICA (PANEL MOUNT)

Tylosaurus proriger
Matrix size: 54” x 30”
Fossil size” 42” x 20” x 31”
Color: brown bone on a light yellow matrix
Weight: 25 lbs.
Upper Cretaceous group
Niobrara Formation
Smoky Hill Chalk
Logan County, Kansas

This skull specimen was 90% complete.  The only bones which are totally reconstructed are the pre-maxillary and pre-orbital.  There are 30 teeth, with 11 being reconstructed.  This is truly an outstanding specimen, both in size and quality.

    Tylosaurus proriger is the largest member of the mosasaur family—a large marine platynotan lizard.

    Tylosaurus existed in subtropical epicontinental seas of less than 100 fathoms with variable salinity that spread inland from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.  Some of the finest specimens come from chalk deposits of western Kansas.

    Tylosaurus of Kansas was an active swimmer with a long body, flattened tail and feet with broad, webbed paddles and well-developed toes.  Bony plates covered the top of the head, while the neck, body and tail were covered with lizard-like scales.  Sclerotic rings strengthened the eyes, and the eardrum consisted of thick cartilage.  The lower jaws, each armed with 16 – 18 sharp teeth, were connected by ligaments at the front of the jaw and double hinged at the base.  Like serpents, this structure enabled the Tylosaurus to drop their jaws and spread them widely in order to swallow over-sized prey.

    Petrified stomach contents indicate that the diet of the Tylosaurus consisted primarily of fish.  Growing the lengths of 20 to 40 feet, they were capable of capturing such fish as the Xiphactinus, or “bulldog tarpon,” which weighed 600 to 800 pounds and was as dangerous as most reptiles in existence at the time.  Since old, dull teeth dropped from the jaws and were replenished with new sharp ones, Tylosaurus never lacked the means to attack rivals or prey.  The fact that so many of these creatures were buried alive indicates the collapse of the canopy and a drop in the atmospheric pressure, causing the oceans to turn to stone." - Joe Taylor

Tylosaurus (from the ancient Greek τυλος (tylos) 'protuberance, knob' + Greek σαυρος (sauros) 'lizard') was a mosasaur a large, predatory marine reptile closely related to modern monitor lizards and to snakes, from the Late Cretaceous.

It is bolted and foamed to the base.