Weird Fossil Lobster (Mecochirus) - Solnhofen Limestone

This is a very interested fossil lobster (Mecochirus longimanu) from the Solnhofen Limestone of Germany. This species features a very elongated, first pair of walking legs that are much longer than the body of the lobster. The species "longimanu" means long arm.

The body of the lobster is 3" long and if you including the walking arms it would be over 7" long. Tehre are several repaired cracks on the thin slab of limestone which has been backed for stability. Comes with a display stand.

The Solnhofen limestones is a famous Lagerstätte in Germany that offer amazing preservation of Upper Jurassic fossils. It is where on of the most famous fossils of all time, Archaeopteryx was found. The fine grained limestone makes excellent building materials which has let to heavy quarrying over the past two centuries which as a result has led to some amazing fossils being unearthed.

This area represented an 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 was devoid of oxygen. This lack of scavengers on the bottom of the sea led to amazing preservation of the fauna found there.