40" Fossil Alligatoroid (Diplocynodon) - Museum Quality

This specimen is truly a sight to behold! It is a very well-preserved alligatoroid of the genus Diplocynodon, collected from the Miocene-aged deposits of Gracanica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The preservation of the fossil is unique in that the head is ventrally preserved and you can see by the visible ventral plates that it twists at the neck, leaving most of the specimen to be dorsally preserved. It measures 36.5" as is, but if outstretched, it would have been approximately 40" long. It's nicely centered on a 41.3 x 22.8" slab of rock.

Diplocynodon is an extinct genus of alligatoroid that lived during the Paleocene to Middle Miocene in Europe. It looked very similar to the modern caiman in that it was small and had bony armored scutes covering its neck, back, belly, and tail. The longest Diplocynodon known was four feet in length and probably fed on small fish, frogs, and insects when young.

The rock in which this specimen was found is fairly thin and has been backed with epoxy, fiberglass, and metal supports to stabilize it. At additional expense, we can add an additional backing and install wall mounting hardware to create a gorgeous wall display.

The specimen was collected in several pieces, so naturally there is some crack repair and gap fill restoration throughout the it. There is some minor restoration to the interior of the mandible, several scutes have undergone touchup restoration, and some tail and distal appendage elements have been entirely restored. All in all the level of preservation is amazing.