Description
Since I removed all of the South American Crato Insects from my site, I have had many inquiries asking me where they went, if I have any left to sell, if I can get more, etc.. In order to explain and educate I have decided to share WHY they all went “missing”. To begin with, several years ago I was approached by another fossil dealer I know very well while at a show in Tucson. He asked me if I would like to take a huge collection of Crato Insects back home with me to sell on consignment for him and we would split the profits. I jumped at the chance to be able to offer some amazing specimens to my customers on the website so of course I said yes! He delivered multiple flats full of various insects to me in Tucson and I brought them back to the warehouse and began posting them to my website.
I had one or two inquiries as to the legality of the insects and so I contacted the European dealer and he assured me that he had acquired the insects legally and had the paperwork to prove it. He even went so far as to tell me that if there was any “trouble” with the insects I was to direct inquiries to him. Looking back I should have asked to see that paperwork.
Well…. Recently I had a surprise visit by the Authorities who wanted to speak to me about the large quantity of Brazil Insects I had in my possession! It seems that the Brazilian government was made aware of the large cache of insects and they contacted the United States Government. It seems that there is a MAJOR misconception out there about fossils from Brazil!
If you ask most fossil people it is believed that invertebrate fossils and trace fossils from Brazil are legal, and vertebrate fossils are illegal. Pretty easy, right? WRONG!! Apparently, a Presidential decree in 1942 made ALL fossils illegal to export out of their country. Prior to that fossils could be exported with the proper government permit/paperwork.. but here’s the kicker.. that paperwork HAS to stay with the fossils forever. If the paperwork is separated from the fossils, then by default they are considered smuggled and illegal!
I contacted the European Dealer and asked him send copies of the paperwork from Brazil showing they were exported legally. What was sent back to me appeared to be a bunch of worthless and meaningless documents. It became crystal clear that these specimens were NOT exported legally out of Brazil at any point in time.
I am cooperating with the Authorities in attempting to get the insects back to Brazil. At this point, the Authorities are working on paperwork from the Brazilian government and will most likely repatriate all of these specimens back to Brazil.
I have asked the authorities to assist me in obtaining various international fossils laws, but at the present time there IS no government database to access to check on international fossil laws. I am attempting to gather that information but it is an uphill battle.. In the meantime please visit The Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences website to see information that they have compiled on International Laws. Much more work is needed to help combat what has apparently become a huge black-market operating out of Europe.
- Fossil Insect
- Lower Cretaceous Age
- Crato Formation, Nova Olinda Member
- Nova Olinda, Ceara, Brazil
- See Ruler (In Inches) at Bottom of Photo for Size Reference
The Crato Formation is a geologic formation of Early Cretaceous age in northeastern Brazil’s Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätte (undisturbed fossil accumulation) for palaeontologists. The strata were laid down mostly during the early Albian age, about 108 million years ago, in a shallow inland sea. At that time, the South Atlantic was opening up in a long narrow shallow sea. The Crato Formation earns the designation of Lagerstätte due to an exceedingly well preserved and diverse fossil faunal assemblage. Some 25 species of fossil fishes are often found with stomach contents preserved, enabling paleontologists to study predator-prey relationships in this ecosystem. There are also fine examples of pterosaurs, reptiles and amphibians, invertebrates (particularly insects), and plants. Even dinosaurs are represented: a new maniraptor was described in 1996. The unusual taphonomy of the site resulted in limestone accretions that formed nodules around dead organisms, preserving even soft parts of their anatomy. The extent of the Crato unit and its relationship to the Santana Formation had long been ill defined. It was not until a 2007 volume on the unit by Martill, Bechly and Loveridge that the Crato Formation was given a formal type locality, and was formally made a distinct formation separate from the Santana, which is about 10 Ma younger.
