Fossilstone Gallery

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Fossilstone Gallery

Fossildon It is your trusted source of high-quality fossils, collectible minerals and amazing Crystals.

Whether you are an enthusiastic collector or looking for a unique gift, you can find it in our diverse collection of fossils for sale

06/23/2022

Fossilstone Gallery is present at the DALLAS MARKET CENTER from June 22 to 25. We invite all merchants to discover our great variety of fossils and our unique stone lamps.

Visit us at Booth 3000, 12 floor - 2100 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207

02/19/2022

With its three horns and giant frill, the triceratops is one of those outsize dinosaurs that have captured the public's imagination almost as much as Tyrannosaurus rex. But later discoveries about triceratops—including that it had only two real horns—might surprise you. Here are 5 facts about the once-mighty plant-eater:

👉 Two Horns, Not Three
Triceratops is Greek for "three-horned face," but this dinosaur actually had only two genuine horns; the third, a much shorter "horn" on the end of its snout, was made from a soft protein called keratin, the kind found in human fingernails, and wouldn't have been much use in a tussle with a hungry raptor.

👉 Skull Was One-Third of Its Body
Part of what makes a triceratops so recognizable is its enormous skull, which, with its backward-pointing frill, could easily attain a length of over seven feet. The skulls of other ceratopsians, such as Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus, were even bigger and more elaborate, probably as a result of s*xual selection, as males with bigger heads were more attractive to females during mating season and passed down this trait to their offspring.

👉 Was Considered Food for Tyrannosaurus Rex
As dinosaur fans know, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex occupied the same ecosystem—the marshes and forests of western North America—about 65 million years ago, just before the K-T extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. It's reasonable to assume that T. rex occasionally preyed on Triceratops, though only Hollywood special-effects wizards know how it managed to evade this plant eater's sharp horns.

👉 Had a Hard, Parrotlike Beak
One of the lesser-known facts about dinosaurs such as Triceratops is that they had birdlike beaks and could clip off hundreds of pounds of tough vegetation (including cycads, ginkgoes, and conifers) every day.

👉 Ancestors the Size of Big House Cats
By the time ceratopsian dinosaurs reached North America, during the late Cretaceous period, they had evolved to the size of cattle, but their distant progenitors were small, occasionally bipedal, and slightly comical-looking plant-eaters that roamed central and eastern

02/10/2022

Parasaurolophus Facts: The Crest
👉 Each species of parasaurolophus had a unique crest structure. It is believed that the precise shape and colouring of the crest may have changed according to the age or s*x of the animal.

Inside the crest were passages through which air from the nostrils could pass. These tubes led from the nostrils to the end of the crest then back down into the skull.

(You can see these tubes clearly in the photo of the parasaurolophus skeleton, further up the page.)
👉 What Was The Crest For?
Scientists have come up with all kinds of weird and wonderful explanations as to what parasaurolophus’s crest was used for. Some of these include the crest being: a snorkel; a weapon; an air store for breathing underwater; or as a means of pushing aside foliage while foraging for food.

However, most of these theories are now considered implausible. More recent studies conclude that the crest would have helped Parasaurolophus to identify one another, or to display the s*x or physical condition of the animal.

The crest may also have been used for thermoregulation (controlling body temperature). Blood flowing near the surface of the crest would either have warmed up or cooled down the dinosaur.

01/26/2022

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. This genus was known first from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915.

The original remains were destroyed in World War II, but additional material has come to light in the early 21st century. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the fossils reported in the scientific literature. The best known species is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species, S. maroccanus, has been recovered from Morocco.

12/23/2021

Amargasaurus ("La Amarga lizard") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous epoch (129.4–122.46 mya) of what is now Argentina. The only known skeleton was discovered in 1984 and is virtually complete, including a fragmentary skull, making Amargasaurus one of the best-known sauropods of its epoch. Amargasaurus was first described in 1991 and contains a single known species, Amargasaurus cazaui. It was a large animal, but small for a sauropod, reaching 9 to 10 meters (30 to 33 feet) in length. Most distinctively, it sported two parallel rows of tall spines down its neck and back, taller than in any other known sauropod. In life, these spines most likely could have stuck out of the body as solitary structures that supported a keratinous sheath. An alternate hypothesis, now less favored, postulates that they could have formed a scaffold supporting a skin sail. They might have been used for display, combat, or defense.

12/18/2021

Styracosaurus (meaning "spiked lizard" is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period (Campanian stage), about 75.5 to 75 million years ago. It had four to six long parietal spikes extending from its neck frill, a smaller jugal horn on each of its cheeks, and a single horn protruding from its nose, which may have been up to 60 centimeters (2 feet) long and 15 centimeters (6 inches) wide. The function or functions of the horns and frills have been debated for many years.

12/15/2021

5 Bumpy Facts About Ceratosaurus
1. Ceratosaurus Had an Armored Backside.
A row of bony plates called osteoderms ran down the animal’s spine. They probably didn’t offer much defense, but they sure helped Ceratosaurus score some major style points!

2. It Might Have had Semi-Aquatic Habits.
Like modern gators, Ceratosaurus came with a strong, broad, and flexible tail—and the animal’s teeth are sometimes found scattered near lungfish skeletons. So was it amphibious? According to paleontologist Robert Bakker, the idea has merit.

3. Some Argue that This Creature Directly Competed with the Better-Known Allosaurus.
Both carnivores stalked Utah and Colorado 150 million years ago, and both had nasty jaws designed for slicing (as opposed to crushing bone and all that fun stuff). Because similar bites often mean similar diets, maybe these two titans hunted the same game. Or they might have found separate niches and steered clear of each other—Allosaurus did have proportionately-smaller teeth, after all. Regardless, the late Jurassic was clearly a tough time to be an herbivore.

4. Scientists Still Aren’t Sure About What Ceratosaurus Did With its Dynamic Nasal Horn.
In 1920, an American geologist named Charles Whitney Gilmore wrote that Ceratosaurus’ horn “formed a useful weapon for offense and defense.” Nowadays, however, this thing’s function no longer seems quite so clear-cut. Thin and probably on the fragile side, most 21st-century specialists hold that Ceratosaurus’ best-known feature was better-suited for display than combat.

5. It Featured Unusually Long Teeth.
One specimen manages to look just as scary with its mouth shut. This dino’s upper teeth are so long that—when the creature’s maw assumes a “closed” position—they extend below the lower jaw!

12/11/2021

Torosaurus ("perforated lizard", in reference to the large openings in its frill) is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous period, between 68 and 66 million years ago, though it is possible that the species range might extend to as far as 69 million years ago.

Torosaurus possessed one of the largest skulls of any known land animal. The frilled skull reached up to 2.77 metres (9.1 ft) in length. From head to tail, Torosaurus is thought to have measured about 8 to 9 m (26 to 30 ft) long[2][3] and weighed eight to twelve tonnes. Torosaurus is distinguished from the contemporary Triceratops by an elongate frill with large openings (fenestrae), long squamosal bones of the frill with a trough on their upper surface, and the presence of five or more pairs of hornlets (epoccipitals) on the back of the frill.

12/08/2021

Ankylosaurus Facts
👉The name Ankylosaurus means ‘fused lizard’.
👉Ankylosaurus lived at the end of the Cretaceous Period (around 66 million years ago). They were one of the last dinosaurs remaining before the large extinction event that occurred around this time.
👉The Ankylosaurus was a large dinosaur. Scientists estimate it reached a length of around 9 metres (30 feet) and a weight of around 6000 kg (13000 lb).
👉Ankylosaurus were herbivores (plant eaters) and had small teeth relative to their body size.
👉The signature feature of Ankylosaurus was its body armor. Huge plates of bone were embedded into the skin which helped protect the Ankylosaurus against attackers. Similar body armor is found on a crocodile or armadillo.
👉The Ankylosaurus had a massive tail club that it could use to generate a large amount of force, potentially breaking the bones of another dinosaur while defending itself.

12/02/2021

🦖 Acrocanthosaurus (meaning "high-spined lizard") is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, although teeth attributed to Acrocanthosaurus have been found as far east as Maryland, suggesting a continent wide range.

11/28/2021

🦖 Stegosaurus lit.( roof-lizard) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of this dinosaur have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to early Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 150 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Allosaurus, and Ceratosaurus; the latter two may have preyed on it.

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