5.7" Ammonite (Stephanoceras & Leioceras) Fossil Cluster - France

Ammonite (Stephanoceras & Leioceras) Fossil Cluster - France #244481

This is a beautiful, 5.7" wide cluster of ammonites from Fresney, France. The largest ammonite (Stephanoceras sp.) measures 2.4" wide and the smoother ammonite along the left side of the specimen (Leioceras opalinum) is 1.35" wide. The small ammonite adjacent to Stephanoceras is unidentified. Most of the rock has been removed from these Jurassic-aged ammonites.

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