Matsui Kumiko, Kimura Yuri, Nagata Mitsuhiro, Inose Hiroaki, Ikeda Kazuya, Beatty Brian Lee, Obayashi Hideyuki, Hirata Takafumi, Otoh Shigeru, Shinmura Tatsuya, Agematsu Sachiko, Sashida Katsuo
Kyushu University Museum, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City, 812-8581, Japan.
University Museum, the University of Tokyo, 7 Chome-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyō, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
R Soc Open Sci. 2018 Jul 25;5(7):172441. doi: 10.1098/rsos.172441. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Here, we report a new 'discovery' of a desmostylian fossil in the geological collection at a national university in Japan. This fossil was unearthed over 60 years ago and donated to the university. Owing to the original hand-written note kept with the fossil in combination with interview investigation, we were able to reach two equally possible fossil sites in the town of Tsuchiyu Onsen, Fukushima. Through the interviews, we learned that the fossil was discovered during construction of a debris flow barrier and that it was recognized as a 'dinosaur' bone among the locals and displayed in the Village Hall before/until the town experienced a fire disaster in 1954. As scientific findings, the fossil was identified to be a right femur of (Desmostylia), which shows well-preserved muscle scars on the surface. The age was estimated to be 15.9 Ma or younger in zircon-dating. This study shows an excellent case that historical and scientific significances could be extracted from long-forgotten uncatalogued specimens as long as the original information is retained with the specimens.
在此，我们报告在日本一所国立大学的地质收藏中发现了一种恐角兽化石的新“发现”。这块化石是60多年前出土并捐赠给该大学的。由于与化石一起保存的原始手写记录以及访谈调查，我们得以确定福岛县土汤温泉镇两个同样有可能的化石遗址。通过访谈，我们了解到这块化石是在泥石流屏障建设期间被发现的，在当地居民中它被认为是一块“恐龙”骨头，并在1954年该镇发生火灾之前/直至火灾发生期间一直在村公所展出。作为科学发现，这块化石被鉴定为恐角兽的右股骨，其表面的肌肉疤痕保存完好。锆石测年估计其年龄为1590万年或更年轻。这项研究表明了一个很好的例子，即只要标本保留了原始信息，就可以从长期被遗忘且未编目的标本中提取出历史和科学意义。
