the place where Paleontology and Paleoanthropology meets Philately
Korea North 2013 "Fossils"
| Issue Date | 10.11.2013 |
| ID | Michel:Scott:Stanley Gibbons: Yvert: UPU: Category: pF |
| Designer | |
| Stamps in set | 3 |
| Value | 30 W Ditomopharangia 70 W Dumangia, 110 W Hormotoma tab - Zelkova |
| Size (width x height) | Stripes of 3
perforated
stamps and one tab Stripes of 3 imperforated stamps and one tab Booklet of 3 perforated stamps and one tab Booklet of 3 imperforated stamps and one tab |
| Layout | 13x13 |
| Products | Booklets x2, Aerogramme x1, Postal Stationery x2 (one cover and one post card) |
| Paper | |
| Perforation | |
| Print Technique | Offset |
| Printed by | |
| Quantity | 50.000 perforated sets, 1.000 imperforated sets, 1.000 booklets with perforated stamps 500 booklets with imperforated stamps |
| Issuing Authority | Korea Stamp Corporation |
On November 11th, 2013, Post Authority of North Korea issued a set of three fossil stamps. These stamps issued as a booklets, one booklet with perforated and another one booklet with imperforated stamps. On top of the stamps North Korean post also issued three postal stationaries with imprinted stamps of the same design: aerogramme, envelope and postcard with imprinted stamps.
All fossils that depicted on these stamps are uncovered in North Korea, unfortunately the names of the stamps are not valid taxonomic names, as they do not appear to have been properly published under the Code of Zoologicl Nomenclature.
 DitomopharangiaKorean caption in Ditomopharangia says "Pterosaur fossil from Dooji valley", the valley located in the south of the Ryanggang Province of North Korea. This is pigeon-sized pterosaur from Anurognathidae family, suborder Rhamphorhynchiodea, from Sinuji Series- approximately 25 cm long from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail, and probably had a wingspan of more than 80 cm. . [R1] |
 DumangiaDumangia - Fossil fish from Duman river, the river along the North Korea- China border. Dumangia is not valid genus name and the image on the stamp is not good enough to allow its identification. [R2] |
 Hormotoma
synonym of
Murchisoniina Alternative spelling: Murchisonia (Hormotoma) Hormotoma is a gastropod (moluscs) that is generally preserved as molds, from Paleozoic era. There are reports of fossils of this genus from North America, Russia China, and Australia - from Ordovician and Silurian-aged rocks. This gastropod was characterized by the long spiral shell separated by deep notches with round turns. The shell mouth was grooved and the surface was smooth. The scale length was 5 to 6¼ cm. [R3] The fossil shown on the stamp is more of a "form" genus - that Korean Post used it for high spired, snails that have similar shapes - because they are preserved as molds - they don't necessarily preserve other ornamentation that might actually be useful for classification. |
 Zelkova
Fossilized leaf of a tree from Zelkova genus. Zelkova (from Georgian 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia still alive. They vary in size from shrubs to large trees up to 35 m tall . The bark is smooth, dark brown. Unlike the elms, the branchlets are never corky or winged. The leaves are alternate, with serrated margins, and (unlike the related elms) a symmetrical base to the leaf blade. [R4] |
Products
| Proof stripe | Mini Sheets |
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| Booklet | Aerogramme |
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| Postal stationery | |
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References:
[R1] "Early Cretaceous birds and pterosaurs from the Sinuiju Series, and geographic extension of the Jehol Biota into the Korean Peninsula", written by Ke-Qin Gao, Quanguo Li , MINGRUI WEI , HyonUk Pak , and Insop Pak.Figure 3 on page 5 shows fossil image of the pterosaurus.
[R2] "Fossil fishes worldwide - the world of prehistoric fishes and their reflection in Philately", written by Has Ulrich Ernst and Oliver Hampe. ISBN: 978-3-89937-241-0
[R3] fossilworks.org , fossilid, Wikipedia, Wikidata,
[R4] Wikipedia
Acknowledge:
many thanks toMr. Peter Voice, Instructor at Western Michigan University Department of Geosciences (USA),
Mr. Rudolf Hofer, Editor of Paleontology column of "Glückauf" magazine of Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bergbau und Geowissenschaften e. V. club (Switzerland),
Mr.Kevin Nolis, Administrator of the “Société d'Histoire Régionale de Rance – Musée du Marbre” and secretary of Palaeontologica Belgica,
Mr. Richard S. White, former Curatorial assistant, Vertebrate Paleontologyogy at American Museum of Natural History (USA)
for their help to find an information about fossils shown on the stamps
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