Beautiful Hoploscaphites Ammonite Cluster - South Dakota

This is a beautiful Hoploscaphities (Jeletzkytes) spedeni ammonite specimen from the Fox Hills Formation of South Dakota. It's been wonderfully prepared free from the hard concretion it was found in. Still embedded in the rock are small micro fossils such as clams, gastropods, or other smaller ammonites. There are about 6 total ammonites in this cluster along with other small micro fossils. These micro fossils include clams and gastropods.

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.