Fossil Ammonites (Jeletzkytes & Discoscaphites) - South Dakota

This is a 3.6" wide section of rock that contains a Discoscaphites conradi (.75" wide) ammonite and a Jeletzkytes dorfi (.9" wide) ammonite, collected from the Fox Hills Formation of South Dakota. There are two other unidentified ammonites within the rock that have been partially exposed. The Discoscaphites at the center of the specimen was removed from the rock it was found in, prepared and then remounted to this rock.

Comes with an acrylic display stand to assist with presentation.

These 70 million year old ammonites lived when South Dakota was a shallow inland sea. They were found preserved in concretions when split open. They then had to be hand-prepared to remove the hard rock surrounding them from their shells, a very time consuming task.

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