This Is a Wonderful claw from Leptoceratops gracilis, a small little known and very rare ceratopsian dinosaur from the Hell Creek Formation in Powder River County, Montana, USA! The claw measures 1.18 x .59 x .43 Inches (30 x 15 x 11 cm) with zero repair or restoration! the only damage is to the very tip. It comes labeled in a 6.25 x 5.25 x .75 inch labeled Riker Mount for easy transport and a beautiful display!
The Hell Creek Formation is home to a wide variety of infamous dinosaur species including Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, and of course Tyrannosaurus rex. Among these, Leptoceratops is both one of the rarest and most obscure. Its name literally means "insignificant horned face"! At 6.6 feet long, Leptoceratops would have had to be "insignificant" to survive, avoiding the ire of larger herbivores like its much larger cousin Triceratops and the appetite of Tyrannosaurs and raptors! Like Triceratops it had a frill and a parrot like beak, however it's frill was much shorter and thinner (even relatively speaking) and it didn't even have horns. It didn't even have the numbers usually associated with small herbivores. Although Ceratopsian dinosaur material makes up an estimated 40-50% of Hell Creek dinosaur material Leptoceratops represents a tiny fraction, less than 1% of that material, usually teeth. Truly a very rare and underappreciated dinosaur!
Dinosaur claws are among the rarest and most sought after of fossils, a claw this complete with no repair or restoration from a dinosaur as rare as this is truly magnificent addition to any fossil collection! I can not stress enough how rare this is!
All of my items come with a Certificate of Authenticity!
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Species: Leptoceratops gracilis
Size: 1.18 x .59 x .43 Inches (30 x 15 x 11 cm)
Found: Powder River County, Montana, USA
Formation: Hell Creek Formation
Age: 68-66 million years old
Repair: None