New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

To produce a large (1.2 m long) Redondasaurus bermani skull and jaw for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History’s Triassic exhibit hall, elements of three different animals had to be sculpted together. The skull (NMMNH P-31094) was missing its snout and lower jaw. A Redondasaurus snout (NMMNH P-25654) that was found nearby, but clearly belonging to a different animal, was sculpted onto the skull using Klean Klay. Photographs of the type skull of Redondasaurus bermani at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA were used to establish the correct length to width ratio for an accurate recreation of the complete skull. Because no high quality lower jaws of Redondasaurus were available for molding, a lower jaw from Pseudopalatus mccauleyi (NMMNH P-4256) was molded and sculpted to fit the skull. Approximately 200 teeth (NMMNH P-31096, P-17036, P-17026, P-44047) of Redondasaurus were molded in RTV silicone, cast in polyurethane, and glued into the original tooth sockets.

The right rear portion of the original skull was slightly flattened and the right quadrate somewhat splayed out. In order to remove this distortion from the final product, the cast had to be drawn from the mold during the pre-cure stage and reshaped while the resin was still soft and pliable.