James E. Martin, Executive Curator at the Museum of Geology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, will present “Giant Fossil Reptiles from Antarctica.”

Recent expeditions to the southernmost continent have resulted in discoveries of fossil reptiles, including mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and dinosaurs. Weather, distances, equipment, and limited personnel made recovery of these fossil reptiles exceedingly difficult. High winds, ice, and snow nearly stopped the recovery, but numerous specimens provided important glimpses into the Age of Dinosaurs on the Antarctic Peninsula. A variety of mosasaurs and plesiosaurs indicate, that even in the marine realm, endemism occurred during the late Cretaceous time, approximately 65 to 70 million years ago.