Icarosaurus
| Icarosaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic,
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|---|---|
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| Fossil of Icarosaurus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Family: | †Kuehneosauridae |
| Genus: | †Icarosaurus Colbert, 1966
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| Type species | |
| †Icarosaurus siefkeri Colbert, 1966
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Icarosaurus (meaning "
Draco
, neither of which are closely related to Icarosaurus.
Discovery and history
The only known fossil skeleton which definitely belongs to Icarosaurus was found in 1960 in
Edwin Harris Colbert in 1966, who named it Icarosaurus siefkeri in honor of Siefker.[3]
The fossil remained in the collections of the AMNH until the late 1980s. In 1989, Siefker reclaimed the specimen, which he kept in a private collection during the following decade. In 2000, Siefker sold the fossil at auction in San Francisco through the auction house
Butterfield & Butterfield, despite concerns from paleontologists that the sale could render the specimen unavailable for scientific study.[5] The fossil sold for US$167,000, only half of its appraised value, to Dick Spight of California. That same year, Spight donated the Icarosaurus holotype back to the AMNH, where it was put on display 7 October 2000.[5]
References
- ^ Berg, T.M., et al. (1983). Stratigraphic Correlation Chart of Pennsylvania: G75, Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- ^ a b Ley, Willy (December 1961). "Dragons and Hot-Air Balloons". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 79–89.
- ^ Colbert, Edwin H. (1966). "A gliding reptile from the Triassic of New Jersey"(PDF). American Museum Novitates (3282): 1–23. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
- Colbert, Edwin H. (1970). "The Triassic gliding reptile Icarosaurus"(PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 143 (2): 1–142.
- ^ a b c Wong, K. (2000). "Icarosaurus Home to Roost." Scientific American, 27 September 2000. Accessed online 17 December 2010, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=icarosaurus-home-to-roost
