A Brazilian pterosaur fossil that had left Brazil illegally has just been repatriated and is available to the Brazilian paleontological community.
The material was at the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium, the main scientific research institution in the country, and was delivered this Tuesday morning (8) to the Earth Sciences Museum, in Rio de Janeiro, in an event that had the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CPRM (Geological Service of Brazil), in addition to researchers from the museum, which is linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Before going to the museum in Belgium, however, it was in a private collection, which sought out the institute to make the material scientifically available. It is estimated that the material left the country at least 25 years ago.
According to the CPRM, the repatriation of the fossil was possible after negotiations coordinated by the body with the Belgian authorities, but it will not be an isolated case. According to the director of geoscientific infrastructure at the agency, Paulo Romano, “after legal-institutional and diplomatic efforts” the fossil returns to its place of origin. He says he hopes that, like him, “others will also return”.
The Museum of Earth Sciences, linked to the CPRM, was important in deciding where the fossil would be deposited after its return, as it is one of the main fossil collections of the Brazilian Geological Service.
The event also had the participation of paleontologist Rafael da Costa e Silva, curator of the Paleontology collection of the Museum of Earth Sciences, the director of the museum, Diógenes de Almeida Campos, the president of the Brazilian Society of Paleontology, Hermínio Ismael de Araújo Júnior , and the general coordinator of the museum, Célia Maria Corsino.
The specimen is formed by a skull with a snout and a crest preserved with pigmentation (traces of color), and originates from the Araripe region, the main Brazilian fossiliferous site, between the states of Ceará, Pernambuco and Piauí.
The species of the fossil has not yet been revealed because the article describing the find is embargoed in a renowned scientific journal, but experts who had access to the material heard by the report say it is a tapejarid pterosaur, of the genus tupandactylus.
Species of the genus lived in the period known as the Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago, in the Crato Formation. With approximately one meter in height and reaching up to three meters in wing span, these animals have as their main characteristic the presence of a cephalic crest (on the head) formed by trabecular bone (porous) at the base and a kind of soft tissue membrane. on top.
Like other fossils in the region, the specimen probably left Brazil in an irregular manner, since Brazilian legislation establishes the fossils as a heritage of the Union, thus prohibiting their removal without authorization from legal bodies, as well as their commercialization.
Araripe fossils are especially targeted for this market due to their high degree of preservation and conservation, often with fully preserved soft tissues.
The regulation of the extraction of fossils for scientific study is up to the local National Mining Agency, formerly known as the DNPM (National Department of Mineral Production), which issues an authorization allowing the removal of fossils.
According to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, who took part in the ceremony at the Earth Science Museum on Tuesday morning, the activities of excavation and collection of fossils have serious regulations in the country.
“The coordinated action between the Ministry of Mines and Energy, through the Geological Survey of Brazil, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recover and repatriate this piece shows not only the respect that the international community has for Brazil, but also the recognition of the work that our scientists do for the dissemination of science to new generations”, he said.
The repatriation of Brazilian fossils abroad took on new colors after the episode of the emblematic dinosaur ubirajara jubatusthe first non-avian feathered dinosaur found in Latin America.
Described in an article in December 2020, the fossil is in the museum in Karslruhe, Germany. After strong pressure from the Brazilian paleontological society for the repatriation of the dinosaur, with the #UbirajaraBelongsToBrazil campaign, the scientific journal Cretaceous Research, where the finding was described, retracted the article (that is, withdrew its publication), but the German museum did not accepted the return.
The institution’s justification was that it would not return the fossil because 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 from the 1970s, a 2016 German law stipulates 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.
Regarding the pterosaur from Belgium, the memorandum signed by the Brazilian Embassy in Brussels and by the European museum cites a 1972 convention of the body that provides for the protection of world, cultural and natural heritage.
