First Report of Vertebrate Fossils in the Snyderville Shale (oread Formation; Upper Pennsylvanian), Greenwood County, Kansas

A recent serendipitous vertebrate fossil find in the Upper Pennsylvanian of Greenwood County, Kansas has yielded hundreds of disassociated bones of amphibians as well as reptiles, fish, and sharks. This is the first published report on vertebrate fossils from the Snyderville Shale, which represents the regressive phase of a minor cyclothem in the Oread Formation. Preliminary identification suggests the presence of Archeria, Diasparactus, Eryops, Ophiacodon, Orthacanthus, Sagenodus, and Trimerorhachis. These vertebrates were land-dwelling, semi-aquatic, and aquatic and are consistent with a coastal, wetland paleoenvironment.