Large Ichthyosaur Shoulder Blades & Belemnite

This is a slab from the Posidonia Shale of Southern Germany containing two shoulder blades of a large Ichthyosaur. The slab is 15x11" in displays nicely. There is a 7" long belmnite fossil in the bottom corner of it also.

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.