4.3" Polished Cretaceous Ammonite (Cleoniceras) Fossil - Madagascar

Polished Cretaceous Ammonite (Cleoniceras) Fossil - Madagascar #305921

This is a 4.3" wide polished ammonite of the genus Cleoniceras, collected in Madagascar. It is absolutely gorgeous, displaying a distinctive "oak-leaf" suture pattern on the surface. This 110 million year old ammonite is truly a natural work of art, displaying beautifully on the included acrylic stand.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks that resembled squids with shells. These cephalopods had eyes, tentacles, and spiral shells. Though their shells resemble that of a nautilus, they are actually more closely related to living octopuses. Ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago, barely surviving several major extinction events. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

Artist's reconstruction of an ammonite, by Nobu Tamura

More about ammonites