Libellula doris larva

[Othniel C. Marsh]

Has this Libellula doris larva, from the Tortonian of Italy been painted on, heavily restored, or is it unrestored?

 

 

Thanks in advance for any guidance
Othniel

Edited February 29 by Othniel C. Marsh

[rocket]

really hard to decide. They had been very common at Alba and lot of them looked like yours

My vote: more original

[Fossildude19]

Any locality information? 

 

EDIT: Oops. I see you put it in the tags (Italy - Miocene)- should be put in the body of the post. Many people miss the tags. 

 

Hard to tell, when the blown up picture looks like this:

 

 

First two legs and head look suspicious to me. 

Better photos would be more helpful.

[oilshale]

They are quite common. On the other hand, Italy has produced a number of very gifted painters.
At least I can't say for sure whether this is 100% genuine or (partially) painted

[Othniel C. Marsh]

3 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Oops. I see you put it in the tags (Italy - Miocene)- should be put in the body of the post. Many people miss the tags.

 

My fault entirely, Fossildude19. I'll edit the original post.

 

3 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

First two legs and head look suspicious to me. 

Better photos would be more helpful.

 

I've not purchased the item yet, as I thought I ought to check if it was painted first, so unfortunately I don't have any better images at my disposal.

Edited February 29 by Othniel C. Marsh

[Fossildude19]

To me, the legs, head, and body all do not look like the typical examples I am seeing online.

[piranha]

The correct name is: Oryctodiplax gypsorum

 

 

"Earlier authors had these fossils always assigned to “Libellula doris”, a species described and named by HEER (1849) from the Late Miocene of Oeningen in Bavaria, and based only on pre-imaginal stages. CAVALLO & GALLETTI (1987) considered this identification as being incorrect, since the specimens from the Alba area possess a shorter and broader abdomen than Libellula doris, and have occasionally short lateral spines on their 8th and 9th segments, which are completely missing in Libellula doris. Additionally, in contrast to Libellula doris the fossil compression larvae from the Alba area possess a shorter 10th segment, the anal appendages are much smaller, the legs are slightly larger and the size of the mature larvae is apparently a bit smaller (Fig. 5). The bulk of larvae preserved as compression fossils from the Alba area, which exhibit quite some morphological variety, have therefore only been assigned for practical reasons to a single extinct genus and species under the collective name Oryctodiplax gypsorum of the family Libellulidae. From the observable morphological characters it appears reasonable to include the fossil specimens embedded in gypsum crystals also into the same systematic unit."

 

text from:

 

Schlüter, T., Kohring, R., Gregor, H.J. 2002

Dragonflies Preserved in Transparent Gypsum Crystals from the Messinian (Upper Miocene) of Alba, Northern Italy.

Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 46:373-379  PDF LINK

 

 

Cavallo, O., Galletti, P.A. 1987

Studi di Carlo Sturani su Odonati e altri Insetti Fossili del Messiniano Albese (Piemonte) con Descrizione di Oryctodiplax gypsorum n. gen. n. sp. 

[Studies by Carlo Sturani on Odonati and other Fossil Insects of the Messinian Alba (Piedmont) with Description of Oryctodiplax gypsorum n. gen. n. sp.]

Bollettino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana, 26(1-2):151-176  PDF LINK

[rocket]

I post some samples from Oryctodiplax, they had been very common at a small site in Alba / Italy and had been all very different. We have a bulk of them...

 

 

[Othniel C. Marsh]

Are those ones unrestored, rocket?

[Pemphix]

I think it is unlikely that someone would fake those little bugs - as described they obviously were found quite abundant, because some decades ago, they were offered very often at fossil fairs. On the other hand: you never can know...

[Othniel C. Marsh]

My principle concern is less that the insect is entirely fake and more that it is heavily restored. I've been caught out in the past with a Knightia eocaena and a Plecia pealei that were both very heavily restored, and I'd rather avoid making such mistakes again.