Museums: Hessiches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt

This museum in Darmstadt, Germany, varies in its collections. We were only interested in their Palaeontological collection, although we did have a look at the zoological displays also. So, lets take a look at some photographs from the museum. Again, not much to say, but plenty to look at.

This is what greets you when you enter the geology and palaeontology gallery, an American Mastodon. 

Side view of the American Mastodon skeleton.

Part of the palaeontological collection also includes fossils from the Pleistocene of the area. This is the giant Irish Elk, Megaloceros.

This is the skull of the primitive proboscidean, Deinotherium. This elephant ancestor is easily identified by the short tusks that protrude from the lower jaw.

The complete skeleton of the early horse from the Messel Grube pit, Propalaeotherium. There is an example of this horse that is pregnant. The pale slab that the fossil is displayed on is the resin used in the transfer method mentioned in my Messel Grube post.

This is just one of many examples of the fossil fish that have been found in the Messel pit. My class was very fortunate to discover two of these gar pikes.

One of the rarer bird fossils found at Messel. This is an Eocene Ibis.

The more common bird is Messelornis.

Messel was also home to a diverse population of crocodiles, varying in size and orientations. This particular specimen was preserved in three dimensions, coming to rest on the bottom of the lake on its side.

This is the exceptionally well preserved skull of a larger genus of crocodile from the Messel pit.

The diverse reptile fauna also included snakes of various sizes. This was one of the largest on display.

The Difference Between...Anapsids, Synapsids, Diapsids and Euryapsids

Simplified skull diagrams of anapsid, synapsid, diapsid and euryapsid.
Image taken from Benton 2005

You will come across various references to amniote skull types such as synapsid and diapsid, these are the more commonly used ones. So for this post I will go through how to tell which is which by looking at the skull.

(a) Anapsid Skull: Skulls that lack openings, known as temporal fenestrae, are anapsids. These include turtles, modern and prehistoric, as well as extinct reptile species.

(b) Synapsid Skull: There is a single temporal fenestrae situated below the postorbital bone, in a similar position to the lower opening of a diapsid. Synapsid reptiles are now extinct but mammals are also synapsid and believed to be descendants of these reptiles.

Dimetrodon Skull, an example of a synapsid. Image credit:
mercyhurst.edu

(c) Diapsid Skull: Perhaps the most famous diapsids are the dinosaurs, but diapsid also covers snakes, crocodiles, lizards and birds. There are two temporal fenestrae behind the orbit. One is inferior (smaller) and one superior (bigger).

(d) Euryapsid Skull: This is probably the least known of the amniote skull. Although it appears to be similar to the synapsid skull it differs as it is positioned above the postorbital bone rather than beneath it. The Euryapsids include Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs.