Paleofauna
Fossil vertebrates from the Laramie Formation were among the first dinosaurs to be discovered in the American West (Carpenter and Young 2003). In 1873, Edward D. Cope accompanied Ferdinand V. Hayden, who was leader of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. The route of the expedition included eastern Colorado where Cope collected specimens in what is now the Laramie Formation along Bijou Creek on the east side of the Denver Basin (Cope, 1874).
Cope named three species of dinosaurs without description: Cinodon arctatus (later changed to Cionodon arctatus), Polyonax mortuarius and Agathaumas milo (later renamed Hadrosaurus occidentalis). These specimens are currently in the American Museum of Natural History. These specimens are very scrappy and the names no longer considered valid. Subsequent discoveries of dinosaurs occur through the formation, and include a nearly complete skull of Triceratops. Non-dinosaur vertebrates also occur (Carpenter 1979).
List of Fossil Vertebrates (data from Carpenter 1979; Hutchinson and Holroyd 2003)
Read more about this topic: Laramie Formation