Complete Ichthyosaur Skeleton (Mixosaurus sp.)

Description

A stunning, museum-quality Ichthyosaur (Mixosaurus sp.) from the Luoping Biota, a world-class Lagerstätte that records the rapid recovery of marine ecosystems after the Great Permian Extinction. 

The specimen is all original and expertly prepped, consisting of the whole animal in a beautiful forward curl, likely caused by the ancient Triassic seabed currents prior to its burial. Outstretched the skeleton measures around 33 inches in length, making this a fully grown adult. The matrix slab on which it rests weighs just over 20kg and is around 1.25 inches thick with some natural calcite veins.

Mixosaurus was a small, agile marine reptile from the Middle Triassic, representing a fascinating evolutionary bridge between early eel-like swimmers and the later, dolphin-shaped ichthyosaurs. Equipped with a long, slender jaw packed with needle-like teeth, it was a specialized, lightning-fast predator that darted through the water to hunt small fish and prehistoric squid. 

It thrived roughly 240 million years ago in the ancient Tethys Ocean—specifically in what is now Yunnan, China—which at the time was a warm, shallow, subtropical marine basin dotted with vibrant reefs and rich in marine biodiversity. The stagnant, oxygen-depleted conditions at the bottom of these ancient lagoons prevented scavengers from disturbing the carcass, allowing the complete skeleton to fossilise in such stunning detail.

Comes with two metal stands.

Size: 

Matrix slab - 22.5 x 17.5 inches

Ichthyosaur - 15 inches at longest length (not outstretched)

Age: 244 million years

Locality: Luoping County, Yunnan Province, China (Guanling Formation)