LM46-008 - PERFECT PALEOLLAMA AMERICAN LLAMA FOSSIL MOLAR IN JAW

Product Description

ITEM # 

LM46-008

ID

Paleollama mirifica

FOUND

Santa Fe River - Florida, U.S.A.

AGE

PLEISTOCENE:  1.4 million - 10,000 years ago

SIZE

2" long

CONDITION

NO REPAIR OR RESTORATION

NOTE

PERFECT FROM A PREHISTORIC CAMELID
FROM NORTH AMERICA

INCLUDES DISPLAY BOX - Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

From the depths of the Santa Fe  River comes the choice grade fossil molar specimen still in the jaw from a prehistoric llama that once thrived in Florida.  This is a molar from the extinct North American camelid,  Paleollama mirifica.  

The specimen is absolutely a gem example!  The light tapioca colors and perfect preservation makes for a top-drawer example for display.  Enamel is perfect and completely intact as is the well-preserved chewing surface.  An excellent educational fossil as most people do not know that llamas and camels once roamed the southern United States.  There is  NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION. 

Paleollama mirifica's  first occurrence in the fossil record dates to the Early Pleistocene in Florida.  It thrived alongside another camelid called Hemiauchenia.  Paleollama was more stocky and smaller than Hemiauchenia.  Paleollama is most closely related to the modern surviving llamas in South America today.  In North America, all camelids went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene. 

Florida's history of terrestrial vertebrates is extremely important to our fossil record.  Without the knowledge gained from these fossils, the history of Cenozoic terrestrial life on the North American continent would be very incomplete.