11.45" Fossil Ammonite (Dactylioceras) Cluster - Hanging Presentation

Fossil Ammonite (Dactylioceras) Cluster - Hanging Presentation #129421

This is a cluster of Dactylioceras ammonites from the Posidonia Shale of Germany. They have been compressed and are preserved on a black slate in a partially pyritized state. There is a large, partial Harpoceras ammonite along the left side of the plate. The back of this specimen has been epoxied and a single nail hanger hole has been installed for hanging presentation.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.

More about ammonites