"Zoli" 6 Foot Mounted Dimetrodon Milleri - Texas Red Beds

"Zoli", a six foot long Dimetrodon Milleri represents the oldest known species of Dimetrodon and was also one of the smallest. This specimen is one of the iconic ancient animals from the famed Texas Red Beds and is built around a 40% associated animal that consisted of a near complete vertebral column to the sacrum and some tail, one near complete manus, fragmentary ribs and sail, 1 femur, partial femur, tibia and fibula, parts of the scapulas, pelvis and clavicles as well as a nice partial left maxilla. This specimen was then composited to approximately 90+% complete using real bone from the same and near by localities, carefully selecting bones for proper size and species to complete the restoration.

Reconstruction of this D. milleri was done based on the holoype, a near perfect skeleton found by Romer (M.C.Z. no. 1365). The shoulder girdle was reconstructed using Fig. 18, Review of the Pelycosauria, Romer and Price 1940. The Manus and Pes were reconstructed using figure 35 from the same.

Key Measurements:

Total Length: 71.5"
Tail: 32.5"
Sail: 21" (at apex)
Lower Jaw: 5.75" long
Skull: 7.5" long, 5.5" wide

This Dimetrodon milleri skeleton makes for a unique and educational exhibit.

Full documentation (photographs, maps, field notes, etc) is available for inspection upon request.

Letters and legal documents attesting to ownership are provided with purchase.

This offer is open to public and private museums, collectors and any other interested parties

The specimen is ready for immediate delivery upon purchase.

Buyer pays for shipping costs, insurance, etc

Please contact us for more information or specific purchase terms.

There are few animals as iconic as the Dimetrodon and certainly far less as interesting/mysterious and unique. To understand this we you must first take a look at the group of animals to which they belonged. They were synapsids, a group of animals that includes mammals and every animal more closely related to mammals than other living amniotes. Primitive synapsids are also referred to as pelycosaurs, which as previously pointed out are from a group of synapsids that had direct ancestral links with the mammalia, having differentiated teeth and developing a hard palate. The most recognizable feature of the Dimetrodon is the prominent sail, consisting of elongated vertebral spines. It is theorized that in life this would have been covered by skin, and likely functioned as a thermoregulatory device or mating display.

The pelycosaurs appeared during the late carboniferous and remained dominant on land for approximately 40 million years. Many species are known from the rich fossil beds of the Permian basin also known as the Texas Red Beds.