|
This is a museum quality reproduction of a Greererpeton burkemorani from the Mauch Chunk Formation, Mississippian age (Lower Carboniferous), (roughly 358.9 to 323.2 million years ago) Greer, West Virginia, USA. Certain fossils are just too costly and some are one-of-a-kind specimens that can only be viewed at museums. The replica Greererpeton measures 192mm long x 125mm wide x 57mm high.
Greererpeton is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian and was about 1.50 m (5 ft) long. Several complete skeletons were discovered in the late 1960s at a limestone quarry at Greer, West Virginia. It was described as a new genus and new species. Greererpeton was a highly elongated creature adapted for swimming. Its body had 40 vertebrae, twice as much as average, and a flattened skull of about 18 cm (7 in) long. The limbs were short and mainly used to steer the creature as it was propelled by its long tail. Some marks on the side of the skull indicate that Greererpeton had a lateral line, a sensory organ commonly found in fish. This showed that it was still a primitive amphibian. Its ears were poorly developed.
Sold
|
|
|
|
|
|
![enlarge image](JavaScript:openPopWin("a1-gallery3-largeimage.asp?ID=85302&height=684&width=698&pic=Greererpeton.jpg&xx=816,800", 748, 734, "scrollbars", 20, 20)){kind=link}