Huge, Fossil Shrimp (Aeger) - Solnhofen Limestone

This is a huge fossil shrimp (Aeger tipularius) from the 155 million year old Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. The body itself would be over 4.5" long if it was outstretched, and about 10" long including antennae. It's very detailed and beautifully preserved on a solid 11.7 x 9.75" slab of limestone.

Often on these specimens there will be spots were the exoskeleton chipped away during collection, requiring some touchup restoration. However, this is not the case with this one. It is completely restoration-free other than one repaired crack through one of the antennae. A truly breathtaking Solnhofen specimen!

The Solnhofen limestone is a famous Upper Jurassic lagerstätte in Germany. It is where one of the most famous fossils of all time, Archaeopteryx, was found. The fine-grained limestone makes excellent building material, which has led to heavy quarrying over the past two centuries. In the process, some spectacular fossils were unearthed, including fossil dragonflies, fish, pterosaurs, shrimp, horseshoe crabs, and many more.

This area represents an ancient archipelago at the edge of a sea. Due to high salt content, the lowest levels in the water column could not support much life and were largely devoid of oxygen. This lack of oxygen and scavengers on the bottom of the sea led to beautiful fossil preservation.

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