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Sale 66
Lot 835
Complete Psittacosaurus Dinosaur, Psittacosaurus is a very important dinosaur that lived between 120-130 million years ago in Liaoning Province, Central Asia. Psittacosaurus is important as being the oldest ancestor of the famous horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops. Psittacosaurus did not have horns but did possess a horned beak and bony Jugals (back of the upper jaw) which are characteristic of only ceroptopsian (horned) dinosaurs. Psittacosaurus is the most studied of all dinosaurs because it is known from all stages from hatchling to adult. With eggs about 3 inches long, the hatchlings were about 6 inches long. Even though Psittacosaur nests contained no more than 24 eggs, an adult Psittacosaur over 4 feet long was found fossilized with more than 65 juvenile Psittacosaurs none larger than 19 inches long suggesting that baby Psittacosaurs were kept in their nesting area as they grew from 6inches to as much as 19 inches in length and were protected and probably fed by adult Psittacosaurs. This 12 inch long baby Psittacosaur is the smallest mounted dinosaur ever offered at auction and consists of at least 85% real bone missing only the small delicate neural spines along the back and tail. The great preservation of the small delicate bones occurred because this dinosaur was instantly buried under volcanic ash over 120 million years ago, a sort of dinosaurean Pompei The all important 3-D skull is 1.8 inches long with no distortion and all of the matrix completely removed from inside the skull and with some real teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. This small complete dinosaur has been repositioned in a natural looking display of the bones atop a 15 x 9 inch faux rock and would make an excellent desk or even wall display.
Add $30 for domestic shipping.
Estimated Value $6,000 - 8,000
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| Realized $4,320 |
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