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VERY RARE COMPLETE DELTADROMEUS AGILIS TOE PHALANGE BONE Tegana Formation - Northern Sahara Desert, Morocco CRETACEOUS PERIOD: 99 - 93 million years ago This will probably be one of the rarest complete dinosaur toe bone fossils we will ever be able to offer. It is far more rare than a complete bone from Tyrannosaurus rex, since only ONE partial skeleton of this dinosaur was ever discovered and only in the recent past. This is a COMPLETE toe phalange bone from a Deltadromeus agilis. Deltadromeus was akin to a dromaeosaur on steroids. Like dromaeosaurs, its bones were hollow which makes finding even partial specimens an ultra rare occurrence since like other dromaeosaur remains, they get crushed and destroyed in the fossilization process based on their fragile design. Amazingly, this bone was found complete. NOTE: For sake of making a sale based on "cool information", many dealers dole out interesting names of dinosaur species and attribute these unique names to their generic-looking fossils without any thought to if it is even scientifically possible to make such an identification. The most dangerous dealers go to shows and buy and then just repeat what they were told with nary a bit of effort more. Sure, it may sound better and make for an easier sale if we can name every fossil we offer to a species but that is neither ethical nor scientifically possible. The staff at PaleoDirect.com will not make up names where we are not sure of the attribution to a specific dinosaur. In some cases, we state the general family or genus. Since we acquire much of our material direct from the sources, we often know of the nature in which it was found and what other associated material was with it to help make this determination when the specimen alone, provides for multiple possibilities in attribution. Simply put, if it is possible to know the dinosaur, we say it and if not, we can at least know the group or family and leave it at that. Unlike many other dealers, we will not just make up stories to make a customer feel better. One may ask "how do we know this toe bone is from this dinosaur?". From this region and time period, there were a limited number of type of therapods. We can see that this is from a sub-adult dinosaur due to the lack of full ossification on both, the proximal and distal joints. The size rules out an ordinary dromaeosaur because it is too large. It rules out large therapods like Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus because this would have been a very young juvenile had it been from either of them and the joints would have been missing due to the small size and premature formation of the joints. In this specimen, you see nearly complete ossification. This tells us that the creature is not fully grown but nearly fully grown. The only therapod with an elongated, dromaeosaurid-like toe phalange like this of this size in a nearly complete grown state is Deltadromaeus agilis. The color is 100% natural and original due to the intense coloration of the red Sahara sands in the north and the consequences of being exposed for million of years to the minerals in the substrate of the north. There is NO FABRICATION OR RESTORATION and what you see is all natural and AS FOUND. If you want an impeccable complete fossil bone from one of the rarest and most dangerous meat-eating dinosaurs of the Northern Sahara, then this is an incredible addition to your collection. Again, with only one partial skeleton ever found of this amazingly swift predator, a COMPLETE and displayable dinosaur bone of this monster would certainly make a rare and cherished part of any dinosaur fossil exhibit.
Discovered and identified in 1995 in southeast Morocco, Deltadromeus agilis was named for its amazingly delicate, long limbs and apparent high-speed mobility. With the skeleton reconstructed, it is greater than 25 feet in length and is 8 feet high at the hip. Estimated weight when the creature was alive is 3.5 to 4 tons. Deltadromeus was a meat-eating dinosaur believed to be an early offshoot of the therapod line that led to the development of tyrannosaurs and dromaeosaurs ("raptors") in North America.
Deltadromeus approaches the size of Tyrannosaurus yet, was a swift and agile hunter with a body profile and other characteristics similar to much smaller dromaeosaurs hence the nickname, "River Raptor". Comparative analysis of its bones suggest it was akin to an enormous dromaeosaur of elongate design. Deltadromeus was the "cheetah version" of its kind and built for incredible speed and stamina. Fossil crocodile teeth, turtle shell, crayfish, petrified wood and many dinosaur footprints were found near the sites of the skeleton. This is evidence that the now scorching Sahara Desert was once a vast flood plain laced with rivers edged by coniferous trees. Crocodiles and turtles swam the rivers and predatory dinosaurs including Deltadromeus, ran through the mud leaving dozens of three-toed tracks that can now be found in the fossilized sedimentary rock in that region. Remains of Deltadromeus agilis have only been found in the Tegana Formation of Kem Kem, Morocco and are extremely RARE. SUPER RARE SPECIMEN - COMPLETE FROM END TO END WITH NO RECONSTRUCTION SECOND EVER COMPLETE BONE WE HAVE SEEN FROM THIS ULTRA RARE "KING OF ALL RAPTORS" 2.2" long SOLD DB6-002 Actual Item - One Only |
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Deltadromeus agilis by MINEO SHIRAISHI Used with permission and copyright protected. |
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