Ichthyosaur Bones - Posidonia Shale, Germany

This is a slab from the Posidonia Shale of Southern Germany containing two shoulder blades of a small Ichthyosaur, and a couple rib sections. The piece of shale is 7x5.4" and the fossils have been prepared so they stand out from the surface in nice relief. There probably would have been more of the Ichthyosaur articulated but this plate was recovered from the tailings of a slate quarry so it was unfortunately long gone.

Ichthyosaurs ("Fish Lizard") was a giant marine reptile which thrived from much of the Mesozoic era. They evolved in the mid Triassic from a group of unidentified land reptiles which transition back into the water. This line evolved in parallel to the ancestors of todays dolphins and whales, something known as convergent evolution.

The Posidonia Shale which outcrops in the Holzmaden, Germany has been commercially mined for centuries and has been used for such things as tile, table tops and fireplace hearths. These quarrying operations have also uncovered a vast treasure trove of beautifully preserved, Early Jurassic (~183 million years old) fossils. The lower shale layers have produced fossils including ichthyosaurs with preserved skin and soft tissue impressions.