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The moral and legal imperative to return illegally exported fossils

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 2–3 (2022)Cite this article

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To the Editor — The dinosaur fossil ‘Ubirajara jubatus’ was allegedly exported from Brazil in 1995 and is currently held by State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe (SMNK) in Germany1. It has attracted the attention of the scientific community not only because of its intrinsic interest but also for the controversy surrounding its export from Brazil, which has put into question the legal and ethical context of this work and led to the removal of the publication2,3. Note that ‘Ubirajara jubatus’ is no longer a valid scientific name due to this retraction, hence its appearance in quotation marks here.

‘Ubirajara’ is far from a unique case of an illegally acquired and exported fossil residing in a foreign museum. The Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil — a region of low socioeconomic status — where ‘Ubirajara’ was found has suffered from illicit fossil trafficking for decades4,5. In fact, some foreign researchers openly admit to having obtained Araripe fossils from commercial sources or fossil dealers (for example, the dinosaur Irritator challengeri, the crocodilian Susisuchus anatoceps and the pterosaurs Ludodactylus sibbicki, Lacusovagus magnificens, Unwindia trigonus and Tupandactylus navigans6,7,8,9,10,11). In one notorious case, researchers even conceded they were “deceived by the fossil dealers”9. Many of the illicit fossils, some of which are holotypes (specimens used to designate new species), are stored in German museums.

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Fig. 1: The consequences of illegal fossil export.

References

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Acknowledgements

N.B.R. acknowledges financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KI 806/17–1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museu de Arqueologia e Paleontologia, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Brazil (UFPI), Teresina, Brazil

    Juan C. Cisneros

  2. Departamento de Geologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, Brazil

    Aline M. Ghilardi

  3. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Department of Geography and Geosciences, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Nussaïbah B. Raja

  4. Institute of International Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, Center for International Studies, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Paul P. Stewens

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  1. Juan C. Cisneros
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Correspondence to Juan C. Cisneros.

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Cisneros, J.C., Ghilardi, A.M., Raja, N.B. et al. The moral and legal imperative to return illegally exported fossils. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 2–3 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01588-9

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