SilesianTriassic

Sauropterygia cf. Nothosaurus

Middle Triassic, Gogolin Beds, Upper Silesia, Poland

A rare find of a complete rib of this size from Sauropterygia indet. (probably Nothosaurus). The bone structure is clearly pachystotic – the rib is massive and the tissue dense. This structure is a primitive adaptation to aquatic life – the heavy bones acted as ballast, facilitating diving.

This is one of those “surprise finds” – only a whitish, weathered fragment of bone was visible on the surface. Only preparation revealed a complete rib, not – as is much more common – a random, unidentified bone fragment.