4.45" Jurassic Ammonite (Stephanoceras) - Kirchberg, Switzerland

Jurassic Ammonite (Stephanoceras) - Kirchberg, Switzerland #175103

This is a beautiful, 4.45" wide, Middle Jurassic ammonite (Stephanoceras sp) fossil collected near Kirchberg, Switzerland. You don't see that many of these ammonites available on the market and this is a detailed and nicely prepared specimen. There are several other fossils including a smaller ammonite, gastropod and two bivalves present in the matrix on one side of the piece. It stands up nicely on a hard surface without the need for a display stand.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks that resembled a squid with a shell. These cephalopods had eyes, tentacles, and spiral shells. They are more closely related to a living octopus, though the shells resemble that of a nautilus. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago. 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