DIPLOMYSTUS FISH ON MATRIX - Green River Formation - Kemmerer, Wyoming, U.S.

EOCENE PERIOD:  54 million years ago

From the famous Green River Formation in Wyoming, this very large Diplomystus dentatus fish is wonderfully exposed on its original matrix.  The fossil fish is completely genuine with no repair and displays beautifully.  The detail is fantastic with not only many of the original bones intact but impressions in the stone of the fins can plainly be seen.   Compared to the much more common and smaller Knightia species of Green River fish fossils that are all over the market, this very large Diplomystus is a much more rare specimen and lends itself to being a far greater display fossil than those other typical examples encountered in the market. 

One of the most important fossil sites for understanding the Eocene is found at Green River, located in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming in the United States. During the Eocene, this region was located at much the same latitude it is today, though global climate was more equable. Therefore, the climate in which the organisms lived differs somewhat from that of the present-day western United States. The fossils, especially plants, found at this site indicate that the climate was moist temperate or sub-tropical, with temperatures ranging from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. In addition to the plants, another piece of evidence suggesting that the climate was sub-tropical was the presence of fossilized crocodiles. Crocodiles can only survive in areas with a constant, warm temperature.

If you were able to visit the Green River locality during the Eocene, you would see palms, cat-tails, sycamores, and other familiar plants from North America, but you would also see some that are today more common in, or restricted to, eastern Asia. A series of large inland lakes extended across the region, and it is in the bottoms of these lakes that various plants and animals were buried and fossilized. These lakes later dried up as the local climate changed, and many of the plants and animals living there became extinct.

VERY LARGE DIPLOMYSTUS OF FINE DETAIL!  

6.9" long x 4.7" wide matrix, fish is 7.1" long by 5.25" wide skull

SOLD     MV2202     STAND INCLUDED     Actual Item - One Only    

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