Iguanodontia, Camptosauridae Morrison Formation,... - Lot 1 - Giquello

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Iguanodontia, Camptosauridae Morrison Formation,... - Lot 1 - Giquello
Iguanodontia, Camptosauridae Morrison Formation, Tithonian, Upper Jurassic (150-145 Ma) Discovered in 2019 near Skull Creek in Moffat County, Colorado, USA H. 51 in - L. 128 in - W. 39 in In order to bid on this lot, we kindly ask you to contact us. Like all Camptosaurids Zephyr has shorter forelimbs with five toes, only three of which have claws, and strong, robust hind limbs, nearly complete and well preserved. The forelimbs are partially preserved, the coracoids absent. The pelvis is represented by the dorso-posterior margins of the ilei, almost complete ischi and partial ilei. The cervical vertebrae are represented by a few centers, while the vertebral column consisting of the dorsal and caudal vertebrae is remarkably well preserved and almost complete (except for the neural spines). Rare and exceptional is the presence in the sacral and dorsal regions of well-preserved ossified tendons. Zephyr has large eye sockets with small ridges above them, it is possible this was an adaptation to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun. Similar adaptations can be observed in some bird species living today. Therefore, it can be assumed that it had relatively good eyesight and was more active during the day.  Zephyr was discovered in 2019, during road construction work, on private land not far from the Dinosaur National Monument and the small town of Dinosaur, in Moffat County, Colorado. The gps point is 40° 16' 04" N 108° 43' 22" W, near the so-called Purple Quarry at Skull Creek, in soils geologically belonging to the Morrison Formation. The Morrison Formation is a “Konzentrat-Lagerstätten”, that is, a site with a very high concentration of fossil remains, with extensive bone beds created by flash floods that deposited many bones in one place. Radiometric dating indicates that the Morrison Formation is between 148 and 155 million years old, which places it between the early Kimmeridgian and early Tithonian stages of the Late Jurassic. The age is similar to that of the Solnhofen Limestone Formation in Germany and the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania. Its rocks are composed of siltstone, mudstone, and variegated light red, dark red, and reddish-brown shale, intersected with light gray and olive gray, fine- to medium-grained sandstone and nodular, clayey limestone. The terrestrial ecosystem of the Morrison Formation can be compared to a savanna. Rock analysis indicates the persistence of a dry climate in the western interior during the Late Jurassic. Aeolian deposits of the Early and Middle Kimmeridgian and wet/lacustrine alkaline and saline deposits of the Late Kimmeridgian show that aridity persisted throughout the Kimmeridgian. Coal of Tithonian age reflects lower evaporation rates associated with a slight cooling trend, but not significant climate change. The Morrison Formation covers an area of about 1.5 million square kilometers, but more than 75 percent is buried by grasslands in the eastern area, and much of the western area was destroyed by erosion after the uplift of the Rocky Mountains. Many of the dinosaur fossils are found in the form of jumbled accumulations consisting of dozens of partially disarticulated skeletons, probably due to the transport of dinosaur carcasses along waterways and their subsequent burial on sandbars.
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