Abstract
Bone fragments, ganoid scales and the distinctive tooth crown of a pycnodont fish (FHSM VP-16583), were recovered from a coprolite (FHSM VP-16586) collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member (lower Santonian) of the Niobrara Chalk in northeastern Lane County, Kansas. Pycnodonts were small to medium-sized, deep-bodied bony fish with batteries of flattened, peg-like teeth on the vomer and prearticulars that are well adapted for feeding on hard-shelled prey. The tooth and a dermal bone fragment were identified as Micropycnodon kansasensis on the basis of comparison with the holotype and other specimens. Small inoceramid fragments inside the coprolite may represent gut contents of the pycnodont, or the larger, possibly durophagous, predator. The remains of pycnodonts are rare occurrences in the Smoky Hill Chalk and are generally limited to toothplates bearing their distinctive teeth. Previous specimens recovered from the Smoky Hill Chalk have also been restricted stratigraphically to the uppermost Coniacian. FHSM VP-16583 represents the first record of this species in the Santonian.
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