Museum Quality Discosauriscus - Large Specimens

Here is a remarkable and highly displayable plate containing two fossil Discosauriscus austriacus. Discosauricus was a small seymouriamorph that lived in Central Europe during the Lower Permian Period. Many seymouriamorphs were terrestrial or semi-aquatic. However, aquatic larvae bearing external gills and grooves from the lateral line system have been found, making them unquestionably amphibians. The adults were terrestrial. Some of the best fossils of Discosauricus species have been found in Boskovice basin in the Czech Republic - the site where this large, unbroken plate was extracted.

What makes this plate exceptional is that the two specimens tell distinctly different stories about fossil preservation. One specimen is complete, intact and beautifully presented on the plate, while the second specimen shows the more typical preservation. With this fossil, one can see a disarticulated specimen partially folded over on itself - an ancient tetrapod that has been clearly picked apart by scavengers, before being protected in sediment. The detail on both is superb and all natural.

Because the skeletons of Discosauriscus were lightly sclerotized, they are rarely as well preserved as the intact specimen found on this plate. This fossil clearly defines the wide jaws, short limbs and relatively long tail of this species. A well preserved lateral-line system has been described, by researchers which suggests that Discosauriscus may have had electroreceptive organs.

Obviously, several factors - the size of the specimens (the complete prone reptliomorph is 9/1-2 inches in length) their position on a large ( 19” x 15”) unbroken plate, plus the closure of collecting sites in the Czech Republic, all combine to make this a rare, highly coveted fossil.

Please Note: This piece is on consignment from an old collection, so the shipping time maybe longer than other items we carry, and our current holiday shipping promotions do not apply.