12.5" Jurassic Ammonite and Belemnite Cluster - England

Jurassic Ammonite and Belemnite Cluster - England #286380

This is a beautiful, 12.5" wide, natural association of fossil ammonites, bivalves, and a belemnite rostrum, collected from Dorset, England. They are Jurassic (Bajocian Stage) in age, or approximately 168 million years old. All have been nicely exposed from the rock they were found in. The largest ammonite measures 3.75" wide.

One edge of the rock has been cut flat for vertical presentation. There is a repaired crack through the ammonite along the edge.

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