Overview
- An agreement announced Monday ended a planned Millon auction that had been set for November 18 and transferred the holotype into Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle care.
- The fossil is the holotype of Dubreuillosaurus valesdunensis, a 167-million-year-old carnivorous theropod and the only known specimen of its species.
- Scientists who excavated and studied the skeleton in Normandy warned that a sale to a private collector would have cut off researcher access and hampered future comparisons.
- The state negotiated a direct 'de gré à gré' purchase from the heirs through the auction house, the price was not disclosed, and the specimen will join MNHN collections with occasional loans to Normandy.
- The move underlines how France's rule that fossils belong to landowners can put scientific heritage at risk and shows the government is willing to intervene to keep key specimens in public and research hands.