S289 - Interesting Genuine Partially disarticulated Keichousaurus hui skeleton Early Triassic Marine Reptile

Here we present an interesting large Keichousaurus specimen. This specimen is quite interesting because its skeleton is partially disarticulated. This indicates, taphonomically, that the animal died, began to decompose and disarticulate before its burial and final fossilization.

Its preservation its nice. It is very common to find many fake or heavily restored Keichousaurus specimens on the market. However, this specimen is relatively good. The preservation of the bones is nice, and the level of detail is outstanding, mainly at the tiny hand and leg bones (the fingers with their carpals, tarsals and phalanges), vertebrae neck, skull and scapular and pelvic girdles. However, few bones have some restorations.

 It is a nice collector piece, far away from the typical bullshit. The specimen has been carefully prepared professionally using micro sandblasting. The restorations carried out consist primarily on those bones that were not as well preserved and they have been highlighted using a painting technique, mainly the ribs and dorsal vertebrae as well as some limb bones and sacupular and pelvic girdle. The head (skull), neck, and most part of bones are exceptionally well preserved. 

It is also very interesting to observe how the veins of natural calcite that run through the rock also run through the fossil, an indicator that the bones are all authentic, since the mineralization processes that the rock subsequently underwent along its natural fractures, mineralized everything, including the parts that ran through the skeleton.

Keichousaurus hui is a small marine reptile from the Triassic of southern China. A member of the Pachypleurosauridae family, with a long neck, paddle-like limbs, and a slender tail, adapted for swimming in shallow marine environments. Fossils, often found in black shale, reveal a diet of small fish and invertebrates, inferred from its needle-like teeth.