CT scans used to get closer look at rare Kansas fossils
A collab between a hospital, a lab, and a museum may provide insights into prehistoric life in Kansas.
SCOTT CITY, Kan. (KSNW) — A recent collaboration between the Scott County Hospital, a local lab, and a museum may provide new insights into prehistoric life in Kansas.
The El Quartelejo Museum and Western Kansas Fossil Lab brought two rare fossils to the hospital for a trip through a CT scanner to get a closer look at the preserved structures inside.
A CT scan, or computed tomography scan, is a noninvasive medical imaging procedure that uses X-rays to create detailed pictures, typically used to see the inside of the body.
The first fossil contained a partial Nyctosaur. Nyctosaur was a type of pterosaur, a flying reptile that lived in Kansas around 85 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period.
The second is an even more rare fossil, that of a Platylithophycus. The Platylithophycus cretaceum was twice classified as something else.
In 1948, two paleobotanists examined a Platylithosphycus fossil and concluded that it was some type of plant. Two decades later, two researchers from Fort Hays State determined it was related to squids and cuttlefish.
However, in 2018, testing on the fossil concluded it is actually in the shark and ray family due to the similarity in calcified cartilage tissue found in the fossil. There are just two fossils known of the Platylithophycus: the one that was misidentified and the one that was recently scanned.
The Western Kansas Fossil Lab says the images from the Nyctosaur fossil showed a well-intact humorous, wings, and feet, though no head. However, the Platylithophycus fossil will take time to determine what structures were captured by the scan.
Kansas is one of the prime locations for finding fossils, especially in the Niobrara Chalk region. Scientists have found the fossils of numerous sharks, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, turtles, pterosaurs, birds, dinosaurs, giant clams, oysters, cephalopods, and other marine animals.
For more information about the El Quartelejo Museum and Western Kansas Fossil Lab, visit ElQuartelejoMuseum.org.
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