PYRITIZED PLEUROCERAS AMMONITE CLUSTER FROM BAVARIA - Untersturmig - Bavaria, Germany

JURASSIC PERIOD:  200 million years ago

From Bavaria, this is a nice little cluster of completely natural Pleuroceras spinatum ammonites from the Jurassic Period.  The ammonites have been completely preserved in pyrite giving them the appearance of being cast in bronze.  The Pleuroceras spinatum species has a broad and ornate outer ridge design with a pronounced ridge running around the edge of the shell.  This is a wonderful and affordable specimen that is COMPLETELY GENUINE AND NATURAL.  No repair and no restoration.

Some of the largest dinosaurs that ever walked the earth were in existence when these ammonites swam in the ancient seas alongside massive plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs!  

Ammonites are extinct members of the Cephalopod class.  Modern members include nautilus, squid and octopus.  They first appeared during the Silurian Period (435 million to 410 million years ago) and were abundant and widespread in the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (175 million to 65 million years ago).  Ammonites are important index fossils—that is, they often link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

Ammonites varied greatly in size.  The largest known as small as 2 cm (0.75 in) in diameter.  During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, ammonites evolved more streamlined shells for swimming and the structure of the shell became stronger.  Different shell shapes emerged as well, such as snail-like or uncoiled.   

The shells of ammonites had hollow chambers separated by walls called septa.  A tube called the siphuncle, connected the body with the chambers allowing the animal to fill them with water or air, changing its buoyancy in order to rise or drop in the ocean.  Only the last and largest chamber was occupied by the living animal.  

Ammonites probably lived for one to six years, with the majority living two to four years.  They fed on plankton (tiny free-floating organisms), sea lilies, and smaller orthoceras.  Although many fed off the ocean floor, others may have caught plankton while floating or swimming via jet propulsion, expelling water through a funnel-like opening to propel themselves in the opposite direction.

Because ammonites lived exclusively in marine environments, their presence also indicates the location of prehistoric seas.

BEAUTIFUL DETAIL WITH FULLY PYRITIZED SHELLS 

2.75" x 1..75" with original matrix, ammonite is .7" in width

SOLD     AMX-002     Actual Item - One Only

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