The Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) and the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments (State Lands) have signed an agreement to exchange fossil specimens with the Field Museum of Chicago. The agreement brings to the State of Wyoming several display-quality items, including a resin cast of a 13-foot crocodile, a resin cast of a 6-foot turtle, and a large fossil fish called Notogoneus in association with another fossil fish species Priscacara. In exchange, the Field Museum will receive seven specimens of Eocene fossil fish from western Wyoming, partially prepared and not of exhibit quality, which will be used for research.

The agreement will benefit Wyoming's citizens as well as the Field Museum. The large crocodile and turtle casts are of two of the most spectacular, exhibit-size specimens to come out of the Green River Formation in western Wyoming. The casts are being prepared by the Geology Museum at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where they are on display for the public to enjoy. The Field Museum of Chicago is a leading research center in the investigation and description of fauna from the Green River Formation.

State Lands authorized the WSGS to offer the fossil fish materials for exchange. The WSGS originally acquired the fossil fish from materials collected on State-owned lands. The resin casts of the crocodile and turtle were taken from the original fossils which are now in private collections outside the U.S.

For more information on this topic please contact:
Ron Surdam, rsurdam@uwyo.edu
Phone: 307 766-2286 x223

Sales: (307)766-2286 x224
Fax: (307)766-2605
Email: sales-wsgs@uwyo.edu

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