At the end of October, the University of Kansas, in the United States, returned the Brazilian fossil spider known as Cretapalpus vittari, described in honor of singer Pabllo Vittar.
The fossil was incorporated into the collection of the university’s Museum of Natural History, where it was studied by British paleoarachnologist Paul Selden and his doctoral student, Matthew Downen, the article’s first author.
The material was excavated in the Araripe Basin, between the states of Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí, one of the richest regions in fossils in Brazil.
In addition to the spider, another 35 specimens of Araripe arachnids were also returned to the Plácido Cidade Nuvens Paleontology Museum —also known as the Santana do Cariri Paleontology Museum—, in the municipality of Santana do Cariri (CE).
According to Selden, the material was collected by him and had its collection and export authorizations granted by the then responsible body, the former DNPM (National Department of Mineral Production, now represented by the National Mining Agency), back in the 1990s.
“At the time, there were few specialists in fossil spiders, and none in Brazil, which is why the material was taken to a scientific collection abroad”, he says. After scientific studies, the Kansas Museum of Natural History incorporated the material into its collection.
It was then with the publication of the study describing the spider in the Journal of Arachnology and disclosure on Twitter in June this year that the Brazilian paleontological community became aware of the fossil.
“Soon after the article was published, a student from the MNRJ [Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro] contacted me about the repatriation of fossils from Crato and put me in contact with Renan [Bantim, do museu do Cariri]. From there, they took over the repatriation,” says Downen.
“Despite having the legal documentation for these fossils to be taken out in the past, the museum decided to return them to their country of origin as a gesture of international goodwill”, adds Selden.
Paleontologist Renan Bantim, museum curator and also a professor at the Regional University of Cariri says that he was in contact with researchers at the University of Kansas to return the holotype, as the type material that describes a species is called.
“After we got in touch to ask for the holotype to be returned, we learned about the remaining 35 specimens. So it is the first record of repatriation of a considerable amount of fossils in a friendly manner, without the need to involve legal proceedings”, he says.
the species Cretapalpus vittari is important because it is the oldest representative of the Palpimanidea family, a group of spiders characterized by a first pair of very elongated legs and that are active hunters —unlike, for example, the crabs, which have a sit-and-wait habit, waiting for the fangs to get caught in their webs.
the species Cretapalpus it predates the origin of the Palpimanidae family between 10 to 13 million years ago, according to Downen. “In addition, the fossil belongs to a subfamily [Chediminae] which until then was unknown to South America, described from records in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which means that these spiders dispersed across the great continent of Gondwana before their separation”, he says.
For Bantim, the discovery has great potential to help weave the evolutionary history of these invertebrates. “Spiders are rare in the fossil record and, for South America, we only know the Araripe deposits with spider fossils. So the species Cretapalpus vittari brings evidence of some groups of these arachnids living in the region during the Early Cretaceous, around 120 million years ago,” he explains.
The Araripe fossils are, for the most part, exceptionally preserved and, for this reason, they are so sought after in the international market for trafficking in private collections. “Because they are very well preserved fossils, with many details, they are very relevant fossils for the evolutionary history of the groups”, he says.
For this reason, Bantim thought it important to make contact with the Kansas museum, which understood the importance of this material being close to where it was found.
For Renato Ghilardi, president of the SBP (Brazilian Society of Paleontology) and professor at Unesp in Bauru, repatriation means preserving the country’s scientific and natural heritage.
“It doesn’t matter if the person who published the article is German, Salvadoran, Australian. We [da SBP] we ask for the repatriation of Brazilian fossils for the preservation of this historical-cultural and biological heritage”, he explains.
Ghilardi also claims that after the repercussion of the case, several foreign scientific institutions got in touch to also return materials from Araripe in their collections.
“In the coming months, we will have the repatriation of a collection of around 150 insects also to the Cariri museum and a coelacanthid [peixe do mesmo grupo que o celacanto, animal de águas profundas que vive na costa da África do Sul] to the National Museum,” he says.
UBIRAJARA CASE
The case of the return of Cretapalpus recalls another emblematic situation: the peculiar Brazilian dinosaur Ubirajara jubatus, described by German researchers. The story of this fossil caused a stir with the hashtag on Twitter #UbirajaraBelongsToBR (Ubirajara belongs to Brazil), but was unsuccessful in his repatriation.
Ubirajara jubatus it is the first non-avian feathered dinosaur known to Latin America. His discovery was announced in December in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research, which later withdrew the article, following findings that the material was illegally taken to Germany.
Ghilardi says he tried to negotiate the return of the material with the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum. However, in September, the museum announced that it would not return the fossil, as it arrived in the European country before the entry into force of the UNESCO international convention that establishes the return of natural artifacts and, therefore, is the legal property of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
Although the Unesco convention dates back to the 1970s, a 2016 German law states that all material brought into the country before April 26, 2007 is considered legal in the country.
The museum claims the fossil is “preserved for posterity”, being available to the international community for scientific purposes.
“There is scientific colonialism when rich countries try to discredit South American institutions by saying that we are unable to maintain our collections and publish. It is shocking”, adds Ghilardi.
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