Estate Find but what is it, can anyone identify it?

[smmatt]

Hello, I'm new to this forum, from time to time I find fossils...bones, rocks, etc. I luckily found this forum which is great because most of the time as an amateur I don't know exactly what I've found. In this case, it's a bone fossil. 

 

It is 15" long x the belly is just under 3 inches and the beak is about 3" 

Thanks for any help that you can give! - Wow, I love that I can put as many photos as I want!!!

[piranha]

compare with: Mesosaurus tenuidens (=M. brasiliensis - junior synonym)

[RJB]

Wow!  Im gunna go with what piranha posted cause I have no idea, but a really neato fossil. Could use a bit of work though.  A very nice find!

 

RB

[siteseer]

2 hours ago, piranha said:

compare with: Mesosaurus tenuidens (=M. brasiliensis - junior synonym)

 

Hi Pirahna,

 

I agree.  Mesosaurus specimens were a common sight at mineral and fossil shows back in the 80's and into the 90's.  They were all from the Early Permian of Brazil (though specimens are known from other parts of South America and South Africa - a fact used as evidence of continental drift during the early 20th century).  Several years ago, Brazil outlawed the export of fossils so all you see now are specimens from old collections.

 

This specimen is typical of what we used to see - most of a skeleton but often missing the skull other than an imprint of it.  Some of the skull might have been there (lost during collection and initial preparation) but it looks more like it could have been eroded away before it was found.  There were some great specimens that still had the skull and just about all the bones.  Sometimes, nearly all the bones were there but the final burial of the animal left one of the limbs folded underneath the body - tough to prep out cleanly so that part of the skeleton was left as-is.

 

Jess

 

 

 

[Innocentx]

What an amazing thing to come across at an estate sale. Welcome to the forum.

[goatinformationist]

Sweet pics; and I like finding fine specimens in unexpected places too.

[MrR]

Awesome score! That there's a keeper, as evidenced by someone else keeping it until "the end". Congrat's.

[jdp]

7 hours ago, siteseer said:

Several years ago, Brazil outlawed the export of fossils so all you see now are specimens from old collections.

 

 

 

This happened in the 1940s, actually, but wasn't heavily enforced until the 90s, and wasn't enforced via interpol until the last few years.

 

However, the vast majority of Brazilian fossil material found outside of Brazil was exported illegally.

[smmatt]

Thank you all for such nice and welcoming responses and for the fantastic info. A special thank you to piranha!  

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Welcome to TFF from Morocco! 

That's a really cool specimen. 

Great acquisition. 

[siteseer]

19 hours ago, jdp said:

 

This happened in the 1940s, actually, but wasn't heavily enforced until the 90s, and wasn't enforced via interpol until the last few years.

 

However, the vast majority of Brazilian fossil material found outside of Brazil was exported illegally.

 

Thanks for that information.  I remember all kinds of Brazilian fossils at shows in the late 80's and 90's and then suddenly there were none.  Last week, I saw one of the Cretaceous fish-in-nodules being talked about on the British "Antiques Roadshow."

[SULLY]

Regardless of what it is, it's frickin cool. Congratulations on a great find!