1.6" Ecphora Gardnerae Gastropod Fossil Shell Lee Creek Miocene Epoch North Carolina

Location: Lee Creek, North Carolina

Weight: 0.4 Ounces 

Dimensions: 1.6 Inches Long, 1.5 Inches Wide, 1.3 Inches Thick

The item pictured is the one you will receive. 

Miocene Epoch, 5.3 million to 23.3 million years old.

Ecphora gardnerae is an extinct predatory sea snail belonging to the Muricidae family and is designated as the state fossil of Maryland (1994). These snails were active hunters, using their radula to bore holes into bivalve shells and consume the soft tissue inside.

E. gardnerae lived during the Miocene epoch (23–5.3 million years ago), and their fossils are found in Miocene marine strata along the eastern United States. Originally, Maryland specimens were misidentified as Ecphora quadricostata, but they were correctly reclassified as E. gardnerae in 1987, with further subdivisions into subspecies made in 1988.

The species offers insight into the marine ecosystems of the Miocene and the predatory behaviors of ancient gastropods.