7.1" Fossil Ammonite (Sphenodiscus) in Rock - South Dakota

7.1" Fossil Ammonite (Sphenodiscus) in Rock - South Dakota - #143839-2

7.1" Fossil Ammonite (Sphenodiscus) in Rock - South Dakota - #143839-3

7.1" Fossil Ammonite (Sphenodiscus) in Rock - South Dakota - #143839-4

This is a large Sphenodiscus sp. ammonite that was collected from the Fox Hills Formation of South Dakota. Half of it has been prepped free of the hard concretion it was found in. Portions of the shell exhibit gorgeous iridescence.

There is a repaired crack through the ammonite where the rock split during collection. One edge of the specimen is flat, allowing for aesthetic presentation without the need for a display stand.

These 70 million year old ammonites lived when South Dakota was a shallow inland sea. It was found preserved in a concretion that was split open. It then had to be hand prepared to remove the hard rock surrounding it from the shell, a very time consuming task.

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. Ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago and they barely survived several major extinction events. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

More about ammonites