Category: Osteology
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Pistosaurus longaevus, tooth, 2/UMK
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Pistosaurus longaevus Middle Triassic, Upper Muschelkalk (Ladinian), Upper Silesia, Poland Pistosaurus were an intermediate form (though not considered a direct ancestor) between Nothosaurus and Plesiosaurus. They were the first known reptiles to move by underwater flight. While nothosaurids moved primarily by twisting their trunks (like modern crocodiles), the movement of pistosaurids resembled the swimming of…
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Acrodus sp. lateral tooth, 11/LMK
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Acrodus sp. Middle Triassic, Lower Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland A beautiful specimen of a shark tooth from the genus Acrodus, with its crown and root preserved. The dentition of these durophagous sharks was heterodont—meaning the teeth varied in shape depending on their position in the jaw. This specimen is an example of a lateral…
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Ptychoceratodus cf. madelungi tooth plate 9/LMK
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Ptychoceratodus sp. cf madelungi (Ceratodus sp. cf. madelungi) Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (anisian), Upper Silesia, Poland An extremely rare specimen from the Lower Muschelkalk. A dental plate of a lungfish (Dipnoi). Ptychoeratodus is an extinct genus of lungfish that occurred from the Early Triassic to the Late Cretacerous. The fossil record usualy preserves dental plates…
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Sauropterygia indet., femur 8/LMK
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Sauropterygia indet. Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland An isolated femur of Sauropterygia indet. The damaged (eroded) epiphysis reveals a spongy bone structure in this area (the shaft, in turn, is unusually dense). Those are characteristic features of Sauropterygia long bones. The specimen lacks features that would allow for a more…
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Sauropterygia indet. cf. Nothosaurus vertebra centrum 7/LMK
Sauropterygia indet. cf. Nothosaurus vertebra centrum Middle Triassic (Anisian), Lower Muschelkalk, Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland I must admit, this is one of the best prep of a Sauropterygian vertebra centrum I’ve ever made. Finally, the center “popped” out of the matrix without damage. I glued it in place with Palaroid B72. This allows it…
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Acrodus sp. tooth 6/LMK
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Acrodus sp. Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Lower Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland The photo shows a complete tooth (crown with root) from a Triassic shark of the genus Acrodus. At first glance, the specimen shows signs of damage. But in my opinion, that’s what’s most interesting about it! These aren’t traces of modern erosion.…
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Pachypleurosauridae indet. vertebra 5/LMK
Pachypleurosauridae indet. Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland The vast majority of fossil vertebrate specimens in the Silesian Muschelkalk are single, isolated bones. As for the vertebrae themselves, I most often encounter vertebral centra, sometimes neural arches. Complete vertebrae, however, are truly rare – almost always separated into two parts. The…
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Pachypleurosauridae indet. disarticulated elements 4/LMK
Sauropterygia ?Pachypleurosauridae indet. Disarticulated elements (tooth, neural arch, vertebral centrum) Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland Here, you can see three specimens in one. The rock fragment contains disarticulated parts of the skeleton of a small Sauropterygian – a tooth, a vertebra centrum, and a neural arch. Given their age and…
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Sauropterygia indet. vertebral neural arch 3/LMK
Sauropterygia indet. cf Nothosaurus sp. Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Lower Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland This is an example of a vertebral neural arch (a part of a vertebra). A fairly common find in the Gogolin Beds. Complete vertebrae are truly rare. In this case, the arch “lies on its back,” exposing the canal…
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Sauropterygia assoc. Acrodus teeth 2/LMK
Sauropterygia indet. assoc. Acrodus sp. Middle Triassic, Lower Muschelkalk (Anisian), Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland This is the type of fossil I like best. The plate you see is a snapshot, a frozen image of a section of the seabed from 240 million years ago. Between fragments of crushed, older sediment, pebbles, and crushed fragments…
