3.9" Fossil Oreodont (Leptauchenia) Skull - South Dakota

Fossil Oreodont (Leptauchenia) Skull - South Dakota #284206

This is a skull of Leptauchenia decora, an oreodont from the oligocene-aged Brule Formation (White River Badlands Group) of Pennington County, South Dakota. The skull is approximately 80% complete with beautiful teeth preservation. A neat addition to this skull is the preserved atlas vertebra seen at the posterior end of the skull. Typically the vertebrae become disarticulated and lost over the years.

Comes with an acrylic display stand to assist with presentation.

The anterior skull is missing portions of the nasal bones, maxilla, and mandible which is quite common considering that would typically be the first area a predator grabs onto to incapacitate their prey. Both zygomatic arches are missing and there is some compression around both orbitals. Gap fill restoration can be found along the angles of the right and left side of the mandible.

Because the eyes and nostrils were placed high on the head, it was long assumed that Leptauchenia was an aquatic or semi-aquatic animal. However, because their fossils have never been found in floodplain deposits or river channels but are found abundantly abundance in fossil sand dunes, paleontologist Donald Prothero suggests that they were desert-dwelling animals. According to Prothero's interpretation, the high-placed eyes and nostrils served to filter out sand while burrowing, or while digging themselves free of sand dunes.