Nepal Fossils- Vertebrata

[HisAirness]

Hello, please help me identificate this fossil.

The problem is that i dont know geological time and i would like to know what creature is that

Fossil is about 20 x 12 cm and its from Nepal himalayas- near by Pokhara (Annapurna range)

I know its not a lot of informations but maybe you know

Edited November 19, 2011 by HisAirness

[Indy]

The problem is... how to add a photo here... ?

To add a photo you will have to click on "More Reply Options"

There you will see "Attach Files" (pictures)

[Indy]

Appears to be a Keichousaurus

My Link

Google Search (our forum only) Keichousaurus: Click Here

Image Search for Keichousaurus (our forum only): Click Here

Search The Fossil Forum: Click Here

Image Search (The Fossil Forum): Click Here

Edited November 19, 2011 by Indy

[HisAirness]

Firstable i thought it is Keichousaurus, but...

I have some keichousaurus in my collection and it looks bit different. What i think is that skull have different shape, also neck is much shorter than my keichousauruses has. Legs looks hmmm... shorter and more massive? especially front legs.

Edited November 19, 2011 by HisAirness

[Indy]

Firstable i thought it is Keichousaurus, but...

I have some keichousaurus in my collection and it looks bit different. What i think is that skull have different shape, also neck is much shorter than my keichousauruses has. Legslooks hmmm... shorter and more massive? especially front legs.

My area of expertise is Invertebrate...

Wondering what some of our vertebrate experts suggest

[Auspex]

In my opinion, this is a piece of "decorative art", and not a genuine fossil.

[Indy]

In my opinion, this is a piece of "decorative art", and not a genuine fossil.

Mmmm ...Paleo-Art ... Didn't think about that being the reason

for the overall appearance looking a little odd

[Carl]

I'm definitely with Auspex. This kind of fake is extremely common. They are made in China. Caveat emptor!

[HisAirness]

Do you know how they make it? On anything to do if i want check if fossil is fake/real for 100% ?

[Maniraptoran]

Do you know how they make it? On anything to do if i want check if fossil is fake/real for 100% ?

i was just going to say that. i remember seeing a fossil that looked EXACTLY like that one, but the matrix was lighter and the bones were from Permian period Russia.

[Auspex]

Do you know how they make it? On anything to do if i want check if fossil is fake/real for 100% ?

In this case, I wouldn't be surprised if it was cast in colored cement or plaster. If you go over it with a loupe, you might find that the "bones" and the matrix are the same material; look for small air bubbles as well.

[Carl]

The ones of this type that I've seen are very thin casts adhered to a real slab of stone and "diritied" to hide the seams and enhancing its believability.

[Indy]

Fake fossils...

Just one of many reasons why I'm perfectly content with being

a "Self-Find" collector

[Diceros]

I think you guys are all way too cynical. I don't believe this little reptile skeleton has been sculpted. I believe this is a cast of the small Permian marine reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens Gervais, 1866 (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesosaurus ). It has a shorter neck and longer tail than the Triassic Chinese Keichousaurus, which is related to the long-necked Triassic nothosaurs. Mesosaurus (in the Clade Parareptilia, and the Order Mesosauria - I haven't a clue where exactly it fits, but it's far more primitive a reptile than Keichousaurus) skeletons are well known (you just don't see them sold as much as Keichousaurus specimens are anymore) from Brazil, India, and South Africa; and Permian reptile guy A. S. Romer, back in the 60's (where I'm from), used it as one of the first bits of fossil evidence for the then-new plate tectonic concept of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana (the Permian seed fern Glossopteris turned out to be the more convincing evidence).

Try to have a bit more faith in specimens. I do realize it's now a more cynical world, but come on.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Diceros

[Carl]

Cynicism is required here. This looks in every way like the very common fakes that come out of China. They are composed of a real rock slab on which a thin cast or sculpted skeleton is adhered. Then a mud paste is smeared over it and partly wiped off to simulate a real poorly prepped fossil.

[Diceros]

Carl - Unlike a sculpted skeleton, I've no problem with a cast of a skeleton, mounted on a rock slab or solid plaster, so long as it's sold as a cast (granted, dealers are unlikely to do that, when selling it as real makes more). Still, philosophically, there's nothing wrong with selling casts of fossil specimens. How much money has the AMNH made, over the years, selling casts of its mounted Tyrannosaurus rex skull and jaw?

I used to make (a little) money at the AMNH, selling casts of a set of enlarged plastic Mesozoic mammal jaw reproductions made by the late Giles MacIntyre for the AMNH/Columbia Univ. vert. fossil study collection, with preparators Walter Sorensen and Otto Simonis (we had the permission of the curators to do it). Schools bought them for their study collections. ....

Usually, the AMNH vert. paleo. dept. then preferred to trade casts with museums who wanted casts of AMNH specimens - the coll. was improved doing that. Because people used to ask for casts of other museum's specimens (when the molds had been made at the AMNH), the dept. was very scupulous about sending the mold back with the borrowed specimen, after a good cast had been made for the AMNH coll. Sorry, I'm rambling. I think often, and with great pleasure, of my years at the AMNH in the 70's (of the fossils, at least, if not all the people there). Earl

[Carl]

I regard 'replica' and 'fake' as two related but different categories. One is educational and a necessary part of science and the other is fraud, respectively.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Carl

[Diceros]

Exactly right, and not all that closely related, in terms of motivation.