Natural History - Knightia Fossil Fish Group

Comprising three specimens on limestone matrices. 163 grams total, 7.1-11 cm



Ex Lincolnshire, UK, collection.

In southwest Wyoming (and parts of Colorado and Utah) in the Green River Formation are found some of the world's most outstanding specimens of fossil fish. The Green River system was composed of three lakes: Lake Ulinta, Lake Gosiute and Fossil Lake. These Eocene lakes lay in a series of intermountain basins formed by geological events that uplifted the Rocky Mountains during the early Tertiary time. The climate was much different from the desert-like climate of this area today. Both the fauna (crocodiles, alligators, boa constrictors and some subtropical fish families) and the flora (such as large palm trees) indicate a climate much like that found along the Gulf Coast today. Large amounts of ash found in the sediments indicate that volcanoes were particularly active at this time.

An amorphous fragment of nickel iron meteorite (1AB), cleaned. 3.25 grams, 23 mm



Found Nantan, Nandan County, Guangzi Region, China. Property of a Sussex, UK, teacher.

The Nantan meteorite fell in 1516, as recorded in ancient Chinese texts; the fall exploded during descent which resulted in a shower of many individual iron meteorites over an area some 28km x 8km in Nantan County, Guangxi, China. Classified as an iron meteorite; 111CD Course Octohedrite, the composition is approximately 92% iron, 6% nickel and contains more than ten other minerals including kamacite, taenite, dominate, plessite, schreibersite, triolite, graphite and others. In 2000, pieces of the Nantan meteorite were incorporated into an art installation for The Bull Ring Shopping Centre in Birmingham, England. Today, a plaque commemorates the occasion.

Complete Keichousaurus hui skeleton on a rectangular matrix. 3.95 kg, 34 cm



From Xingyi, Guizhou, China. Acquired 1950s-1960s. From an old Bristol, UK, palaeontological collection.

Keichousaurus was a late Triassic marine reptile, and a member of the Pleurosaur family, and went extinct 250 million years ago during the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. They were specialised fish eaters, and were highly unusual amongst marine reptiles in that they gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs.