This very complete skeleton of a large theropod belonged to a cousin of Allosaurus who has not yet been identified or named.
Theropod dinosaur on sale in June in Paris
UNKNOWN. "Since I've worked in fossil forensics, I've never seen this " told us Eric Mickeler, natural history expert for the Aguttes auction house. "That" , it is the skeleton of a large theropod dinosaur, a group that brings together large predatory animals, the most famous representatives of which are the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Velociraptor. The animal "more than 70% complete" claims the auction house, seems to have lived to an advanced age, evidenced by signs of pathologies in the vertebrae.
When his remains were discovered in a deposit in Wyoming (United States) in 2013, archaeologists initially imagined having exhumed an allosaurus. And for good reason, the bones were torn from a deposit dated to the Upper Jurassic (157 to 152 million years), a period during which these large predators competed for the head of the food chain with megalosaurids and ceratosaurs. But over the course of the excavation campaigns (it will take three to extract all the bones from this 9-meter-long specimen), the paleontologists will go from surprise to surprise.
Detail of the head of the dinosaur whose bones have been particularly well preserved. ©Aguttes
First of all, this monster has more teeth than the species Allosaurus fragilis which it closely resembles, and well described by a dozen fossil specimens. But this newcomer has 18 to 19 tooth sockets whereas the allosaurus usually has only 15 to 17. "Osteological differences are also visible, such as the elongation of the shoulder blades, the presence of a more robust than that of Allosaurus with a large weld between the pubic bones “says the auction house. “It could be a new, yet unnamed taxon of allosaurus "says paleontologist Pascal Godefroit, researcher at the Royal Belgian Institute of Sciences, one of the two people to have conducted a pre-study on this specimen.
There is still everything to discover
"We regularly have more or less large, more or less complete, and more or less well-preserved skeletons, but whether they are mammoths or theropods, but science usually has no more something to learn from such pieces. The novelty here is that there is still everything to be done scientifically! "says Eric Mickeler. Indeed, the skeleton has so far only been the subject of two short descriptions, but not yet of a real scientific article. But isn't there a risk that, because of the sale, the fossil joins a private collection and is no longer accessible to scientists?
"It's unlikely , replies Eric Mickeler. Experience shows that buyers of such pieces invest in them to exhibit them (for free or for hire) often in institutions or museums. This was the case, for example, for a triceratops sold for 592,000 euros to an American patron in 2008 and exhibited at the Boston Science Museum. We can also mention an ophthalmosaurus sold in April 2009 (181,000 euros) to an industrialist from Lyon, who loaned it to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. However, counterexamples also exist since in October 2010, an allosaurus purchased for 1,296,750 euros by a European collector has not yet been exhibited.
It should be noted that if it is really a new species (or even a new genus) the purchaser can contribute to give it a name "in accordance with scientific rules" specifies the auction house, which adds that the current owner of the skeleton will donate part of the sum recovered during the sale (40,000 euros) to two associations for the protection of wildlife:Sea Shepherd and Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Center (which works to protect cheetahs). After a public exhibition at Aguttes in Lyon-Brotteaux from March 15 to May 18, 2018, this skeleton will be exhibited on the 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower from June 2 to 4, 2018, where it will be auctioned on Monday June 4 at 6 p.m. Its price is estimated between 1,200,000 and 1,800,000 euros.