#messel pit

[veloci-raptor]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 11

Dawn in Messel

1. Eocoracias brachyptera

2. Masillastega rectirostris

3. Juncitarsus merkeli

[armadillorollup]

some messel pit pals

[dykegeology]

All this talk about ‘thirst traps‘ on ‘twitter‘... smh you’re all forgetting the real, original thirst trap... the messel pit...

[otussketching]

Okay, so here are some watercolour studies of the Eocene giant anseriform Gastornis, based mainly on screamers and muschovy ducks, for an upcoming project, so stay tuned for that!

Gastornis was actually really widespread, as its range streched from China through Europe and Greenland all the way to North America. Back then subtropical rainforests stretched all the way to the Arctic, and you could find alligators and redwood trees on Ellesmere island!

But what did they eat? Gastornis was long thought to be a large hypercarnivore that preyed on small animals,like early horses, but recent studies have shown that it's diet mainly consisted of fruit and nuts. However, this doesn't mean it wasn't harmless, because like geese and swans, Gastornis may have protected its young aggressively.

[earthstory]

dw_travel

The Messel Pit in Hesse is one of 41 World Heritage Sites in Germany!⠀

[psaronius-blog]

The hot toxic gasses beneath a dried out lake is let loose as an earthquake ruptures the mud that concealed them. An unlucky propalaeotherium just happened to be at the wrong place and time, and is now fleeing from the toxic clouds and scorching gas. exaggerated natural disasters are my guilty pleasure

[wonartarts]

Mammal Overload

The next set of Animals for @huxley-paleozoo; Leptictidium auderiense, Pholidocercus hassiacus, Darwinius massilae, and Kopidodon macrognathus, all mammals from the Early-to-Middle Eocene, known from the Messel Pit of Germany.

[More Art on Tumblr] [More Art on dA] [Patreon] [Commission Prices]

[extinctanimals]

Palaeochiropteryx, a prehistoric bat from the Eocene that was already quite advanced and capable of echolocation.

Apparently fossils of bats are quite hard to come by as they are light-boned and terrestrial creatures, not lending well to preservation.  This guy was found in the Messel Pit of Germany, which is famous for its exceptional preservation even of soft tissues and such.

[veloci-raptor]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 9

A male Primozygodactylus attempts to court a female

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

The Messel site, near Frankfurt in Germany, was excavated by a team of our Palaeontology department in the 1980s. This extraordinary site is famous for being rich in high-quality, 47 million year-old fossils. And the diversity of these fossils is astounding: crocodiles, snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, turtles, birds, insects, bats, primitive horses etc. You can find a lot of Messel fossils in our Gallery of Evolution and in our 250 Years of Natural Sciences Hall.

[fossilporn]

A 47 million year old fossilized snake (Boa) from the Messel Pit in Germany.  

Photo from: Paul Williams

For more amazing fossil photos be sure to follow the Fossil Porn Tumblr Blog.

[earthstory]

Iridescence, 47 million years old.

Some sites preserve fossils so well that very fine details remain, usually thanks to the very fine grain of the preserving sediment that is able to replace very small details of the original creature. One of these is the Messel pit in Germany (see http://on.fb.me/1VRgpkr for a detailed post), and some of the most extraordinary specimens found here include these shiny beetles with their real life colours. They are the purest real colours of extinct organisms that we have to date.

Iridescence in the chitinous shell of insects is due to the fine structure of the shell rather than pigmentation. The light interacting with nano scale features close to visible wavelengths in scale diffracts and splits into its constituent colours in much the same way as in opals. When the grain of the preserving sediment is fine enough to replace these structures, the colours remain, virtually unchanged by the aeons that have elapsed since these jewel beetles lived.

Loz

Image credit: Torsten Wappler, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt

http://bit.ly/1SiLk8h

[wwtravels]

Old Bones in Darmstadt

Old Bones in Darmstadt

By Linda Tancs

Germany’s first UNESCO World Natural Heritage site is a fossil pit near Darmstadt, the cultural capital of Hesse.  It’s not just any old fossil pit, mind you.  The Messel Pitis a thriving tribute to the Eocene Epoch over 47 million years ago with over 40,000 finds to date.  Relics include 30 complete skeletons, a prehistoric horse, hundreds of plant species and a wide assortment of…

[theunrememberedgate]

...Most other sites are lucky to contain partial skeletons, but Messel boasts extensive preservation of structural integrity, even going so far as to preserve the fur, feathers and "skin shadows" of some species. (x)

[unexplained-events]

This Jewel Beetle, found in the Messel Pit in Germany, is 47 million years old. It still has its shimmering coat. Both ancient and modern jewel beetles sport their iridescent exteriors thanks to the way different layers in their outer body coverings refract light. 

47 million years old....that's so much history

[alxndrasplace]

(Smithsonian Magazine)  The Evolutionary Secrets Within the Messel Pit 

(...) A gaping 200-foot-deep gouge in the forested countryside, the Messel Pit doesn’t at first glance seem worth preserving, never mind visiting, but since 1995 it has been a Unesco World Heritage site, thanks to a series of unfortunate events beginning some 48 million years ago.

The world was a very different place then, during the period known to scientists as the Eocene. The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were higher than today (at least, for the time being), producing a greenhouse effect of soaring temperatures. In the Arctic, giant crocodilians swam in warm waters among the ferns. A tropical rainforest covered Antarctica. The shapes of the continents would be mostly recognizable, though India was still on the collision course with Asia that would form the Himalayas. Sea levels were about 150 feet higher than today, so Europe wasn’t a largely continuous landmass but a vast archipelago.

(more...)