Paleontological research in the U.S. state of Montana
The location of the state of Montana
Paleontology in Montana refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Montana. The fossil record in Montana stretches all the way out to sea]] where local bacteria formed stromatolites and bottom-dwelling marine life left tracks on the sediment that would later fossilize. This sea remained in place during the early Paleozoic, although withdrew during the Silurian and Early Devonian, leaving a gap in the local rock record until its return. This sea was home to creatures including brachiopods, conodonts, crinoids, fish, and trilobites. During the Carboniferous the state was home to an unusual cartilaginous fish fauna. Later in the Paleozoic the sea began to withdraw, but with a brief return during the Permian.
During the Triassic Montana was again covered in a sea whose inhabitants are the state's only known fossils from this time. Much of Montana remained covered by seawater into the Late Jurassic, but exposed areas were greened by a flora of conifers, cycads, ferns, and ginkgoes. This coastal plain was home to dinosaurs including the ornithopod Camptosaurus, the sauropods Apatosaurus and Diplodocus, and the theropod Allosaurus. During the early Cretaceous the state was home to its first flowering plants as well as predators such as Deinonychus. Later the Western Interior Seaway, home to creatures such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, came to cover the state. On land, the duckbilled Maiasaura formed vast nesting colonies. By the end of the Cretaceous Montana was home to some of the most famous dinosaurs; creatures such as Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus.
During the early Cenozoic the sea began to withdraw from the state. Plants, insects, and titanotheres are preserved from this time. Later inhabitants would include arctocyonids, insectivores, multituberculates, pantodonts, primates, and taeniodonts. As the Cenozoic proceeded the climate cooled until the Ice Age started and glaciers entered the state. At this time mammoths, musk oxen, and dire wolves lived in the areas of the state not covered by glaciers. Local Native Americans have been devising mythical explanations for fossils and also repurposing them for practical uses for thousands of years. The first scientific collection of local fossils began in the mid 19th century. Other important discoveries include the plant and insect fossils of Ruby Valley and Deinonychus, which triggered the Dinosaur Renaissance. The Cretaceous Duck-billed dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum is the Montana state fossil.
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PaleontologyinMontana refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Montana. The fossil record in...
wedge complex, Montana. In Field trip guidebook, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 61st Annual Meeting: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleontologyin the Western...
from Triebold Paleontology Incorporated’s “12-020” site, a quarry in the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation in Fergus County, Montana. The quarry is...
an apex predator or a pure scavenger was among the longest debates inpaleontology. Most paleontologists today accept that Tyrannosaurus was both an active...
Pachycephalosaurus. At that year's meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Jack Horner of Montana State University presented evidence, from analysis of the...
remains. The museum is part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail and is Montana's official repository for Paleontological specimens. The museum's collections...
The Dueling Dinosaurs or Montana Dueling Dinosaurs is a fossil specimen originating from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. It consists of the fossilized...
from the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e2190369. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2190369. ISSN 0272-4634...
the Hell Creek Formation (Late Maastrichtian) of western Carter County, Montana, USA and the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan, Canada; S. edmontonensis...
discoveries and events related to the paleontology of archosaurs that will be published in 2024. Paleontology portal History of science portal dinosaurs...
the Montana Dinosaur Trail has "unique paleontology displays, interpretation, replicas or actual skeletons of dinosaurs and other fossils" found in Montana"...
(Theropoda: Maniraptora) from the Upper Cretaceous of Montana", University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions 13: 1–14 Burnham, D. A. (2004). "New Information...
wedge complex, Montana. In Field trip guidebook, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 61st Annual Meeting: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleontologyin the Western...
pachycephalosaurid dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous period. It lived in what is now Alberta and Montana, and contains the single species Hanssuesia sternbergi. Hanssuesia...
genus of carnivorous dinosaurs known only from the Judith River Formation inMontana, which has been dated to the late Campanian age of the late Cretaceous...
(January 1980). "An Albertosaur from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana". Journal of Paleontology. 54 (1): 102–108. JSTOR 1304167. Data related to Gorgosaurus...
described until 1991 in the Journal of Paleontology, where Gillette named it Seismosaurus halli (Jim and Ruth Hall's seismic lizard), though in 1994, Gillette...
of paleontology programs available to the public. The Montana Dinosaur Center is one of 2 museums inMontana that employ degreed paleontological staff...
is damaged in places. A section of caudal vertebrae (specimen CCM V03) was discovered in the 1960s in the Powder River drainage, Montana, part of the...
theropod dinosaur known from the latest Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of Montana, United States. It contains a single species, Acheroraptor temertyorum...
the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian stage) of northwestern Montana. The name means 'bison lizard', in a combination of Blackfeet Indian eini and Latinized Ancient...
from a set of teeth found in the Late Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana and named by paleontologist Joseph Leidy in 1856. These were the first...
grandis. Both consist of fragmentary fossils found by John Bell Hatcher inMontana, which is today understood as tyrannosauroid material. At first, Marsh...
Orodromeus were discovered by Robert Makela during the excavation in Teton County, Montana, of the Egg Mountain brooding colony of a much larger relative...
discovered in the Two Medicine Formation (Campanian, about 74 million years old) on a Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Teton County in north-central Montana. The...
The Montana Dinosaur Trail is a series of fourteen dinosaur-themed museums, state parks and other attractions in twelve communities located in the central...
from the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 8 (3): 314–321. doi:10.1080/02724634.1988.10011714....
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