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Showing results for tags 'felis'.
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Feline skull from Miocene of Gansu (China), Composite?
ziggycardon posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hi everyone, I just recieved this skull which I bought as an impulse buy. I normally do some research before I buy anything and I usually try to stay clear from fossils from China, but this skull got the better of me and without thinking it through I purchased it. I bought the skull as a Felis sp. skull found in the Gianhe Beds, Gansu Province, China (Miocene, 10 mya). I've been wanting some feline or mustelid material for quite some time and I bought this specimen without keeping a clear head, knowing all to well in the back of my head that many of these fossils are composites, not to mention the legality of most vertebrate fossils from China. Kinda feel like an idiot right now And besides all that I am not entirely convinced of it being Feline after all, could be a Mustelid as well, or just a Frankenstein monster. Here are some photo's of the skull, it is all by all a relatively nice skull, but I believe there composite elements to it. Here are the area's that I suspect where there might have been repears or composition. These teeth seem off to me, they look quite big for the skull, and Felis sp. jaws normally don't have this many teeth in the lower jaw. This type of dentition looks more alligned with those of Mustelids (of which a number where present duing the Miocene of this area). I'll probably try to prep the teeth a little bit more in the coming days to see if I can expose some roots of sort. There is an area that has some strange coloration and texture, I believe some repairs or composition that they have tried to hide. This area has quite a strange texture and color, I am quite positive that this was added in. (Maybe with some modern bone of plaster), I'll probably have a look with the microscope tomorrow. For the rest, some good points of the skulls: Each lower jaw looks okay, both side of the lower jaw have imperfections and fractures that run from one end to the other. (Only the front area that is circled looks like it is composite) Some goes for the front part of the skull, all seems natural and okay untill it hits the bit in the middle of the skull that I circled. One of the canine teeth looks to be original as well, with the root that goes into the skull as it should be, some goes for on of the first 2 premolars in the right lower jaw and the first one in the left jaw. It are the rest of the teeth of which I have doubts if they are natural and not placed in, as well as the front jaw piece with the incisors and some area's of the backside of the skull. I hope some here might give me some clarity how much of this specimen is a composite and whether it is Feline of Mustelid. I just hope I didn't bumb my toes to hard on this skull, at least it will be lesson for the future.