Rudist clams were a diverse group of large, atypical marine bivalves that evolved in the warmer waters of the Earth during the Jurassic and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Rudists were generally gregarious and are considered to be the major reef building organisms in equatorial regions during the Late Cretaceous. Durania maxima is the only species of rudist known from the Smoky Hill Chalk where it occurs sparsely as single individuals or small groups, suggesting that it was at the northern extent of its range. Although specimens of this clam have been collected from the chalk since the 1870s, accurate stratigraphic data is lacking on the type and most other specimens discovered since that time. As noted by Williston (1893), Logan (1898), Hattin (1982) and Stewart (1990), D. maxima occurs most frequently in the lower (Upper Coniacian) chalk, and is present throughout the member. Relatively little work has been done on the occurrence of D. maxima in the Western Interior Sea, in part because it occurs outside the normal geographic range of rudists and does not constitute a significant part of the fauna. The history of the discovery and collection of this fossil bivalve in Kansas is reviewed, and two recently collected specimens are reported here with stratigraphic data.