Champsosaurus brevicollis (Cope) Cope ED, 1876

Cope, E. D., 1876, On some extinct reptiles and batrachia from the Judith River and Fox Hills beds of Montana, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 28, pp. 340-359 : 352

Champosaurus brevicollis , sp. nov.

On one occasion the writer discovered a number of vertebrae of this genus close together, and such relation as to induce the belief that some of them belonged to the same individual. Parts of several were obtained, however, adding another evidence of the manner in which the fossils of this formation have been dislocated and scattered. The evidence for the existence of this species must be allowed to rest at present on a cervical vertebra, with free hypapophysis. This body differs from the corresponding one in the C. annectens in its greater brevity as compared with its length. The vertical and transverse diameters exceed the longitudinal in the C. brevicollis , while in the C. annectens the length exceeds both. The inferior aspect of this centrum is broadly rounded, not carinate as in C. annectens . The value of this character is uncertain, but a Centrum similarly rounded below (above alluded to) has the more elongate form of the C annectens .