Mystery dinosaur skeleton sells for over $2M at Paris auction

PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) - The 9-meter long (30 ft) skeleton of an unidentified type of dinosaur, believed to be that of a new species, fetched more than $2.3 million at an auction staged on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday.

The fossil, dug up in the western United States in 2013, is known only to belong to a large, carnivorous dinosaur. Scientists who have studied it say there are several differences with known species.

"The buyer is French and he told me before the sale ... 'if I get it, I would present it to the public' and this is amazing," auctioneer Claude Aguttes said.

"Everyone will be able to see it, it will soon be lent to a museum, it will be studied by scientists, everything is perfect."

The buyer and the seller, identified only as a British businessman, were both unnamed.

The sale had been expected to fetch up to $2.1 million.

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Chilean paleontologist Consuelo Huidobro looks on at a mastodon's fossilized remains at the rural Padre Hurtado municipality near Santiago March 24, 2011. The remains of the mastodon were discovered on the banks of the Mapocho river during the construction of a water treatment plant, local media reported. It is believed that mastodons inhabited earth some 15,000 years ago.

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An unearthed mastodon's fossilized remains are pictured at the rural Padre Hurtado municipality near Santiago March 11, 2011. The remains of the mastodon were discovered on the banks of the Mapocho river during the construction of a water treatment plant, local media reported. It is believed that mastodons inhabited earth some 15,000 years ago. Picture taken March 11, 2011.

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Brazilian paleontologist Alexander Kellner shows the fossils and a model of the newly-discovered prehistoric pterosaur to journalists during its presentation at Rio's Federal University Museum in Rio de Janeiro, March 20, 2013. According to Brazilian scientists, the specimen is referred to as Tropeognathus cf. T. mesembrinus, and it is the largest known pterosaur fossils recovered from Gondwana, the name given to the more southerly of the two supercontinents which were part of the Pangaea supercontinent in the past.

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French auction house Aguttes, which had previously sold a mammoth skeleton and that of another dinosaur, had said before Monday's sale that the buyer might be able to name the new species, sparking objections from a U.S. scientific association.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, had argued in a statement this might run counter to naming rules. It called for the auction to be canceled, saying that private ownership could limit the reach of scientific study even if the skeleton was then released to researchers.

Some of the proceeds from the auction will go to two charities working with endangered species, including cheetahs and ocean wildlife.

($1 = 0.8549 euros) (Reporting by Celia Mebroukine, Writing by Sarah White, Editing by Catherine Evans)

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