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Reptile fossil. What is it, and is it real?


MarielleK

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Hello everyone! So this fossil is being sold in the U.S. as part of an estate. It is labeled as compsognathus, but I am certain that it is not. It looks to me like some sort of marine reptile out of China. So I am wondering what it is, and if it is genuine. Thank you! 

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This looks to me to be a Brazilian Mesosaurus or Stereosternum skeleton. It would be Permian, from the Irati formation. This is one of the best known continental-drift fossils, with specimens found in South Africa and Brazil.

Bob

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Yep - Mesosaurus or Stereosternum from Brazil.

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Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC).

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Thank you all for the ID! Does this look like a good example of a fossil of this kind? Is it completely genuine? 

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This looks like a typical example. The skull is not very well preserved. The hind legs seem to be missing. The sacral vertebrate, just to the skull side of the break are preserved torso-ventrally. The tail, on the other side of the break is preserved in lateral aspect. It is possible that the tail was a composite piece added on, but that is very difficult to tell from photos. If the layering of the rock match on the two sides of the break, it is probably not composited, but if they don't match it is likely.

Bob

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Yeah, I think this is probably Mesosaurus.

 

Worth noting that you can't find these on the market much anymore because export has been banned and is tightly enforced by Brazil. If you want one of these, old estate sales are probably the only way to get them.

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When my wife brings me along to estate sales, I never ever see anything like this.  It's almost always porcelain tea cups, beanie babies, or elves on shelves.  Maybe fossil collectors in Georgia never pass away?

 

Don

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On 23.8.2019 at 6:49 PM, rfarrar said:

This looks to me to be a Brazilian Mesosaurus or Stereosternum skeleton. It would be Permian, from the Irati formation. This is one of the best known continental-drift fossils, with specimens found in South Africa and Brazil.

Bob

Exact. 

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On 8/23/2019 at 6:08 PM, FossilDAWG said:

When my wife brings me along to estate sales, I never ever see anything like this.  It's almost always porcelain tea cups, beanie babies, or elves on shelves.  Maybe fossil collectors in Georgia never pass away?

 

Don

My dilemma exactly. None if the estate sales I have been to are from people that collected "rocks".

 

 

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