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, 1.6 Inches Wide, 1.2 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 in the Muricidae family and has been designated the state fossil of Maryland since 1994.

These snails were carnivorous predators, using their radula to drill holes into the shells of bivalves and feed on the soft tissues inside.

Time Period: This species lived during the Miocene epoch (approximately 23 to 5.3 million years ago), and its fossils are found in Miocene marine strata along the East Coast of the United States, especially in Maryland.

Taxonomy: Initially, Maryland specimens were classified as Ecphora quadricostata, but this name is now limited to a Pliocene species from Virginia to Florida. In 1987, Druid Wilson reclassified the Maryland fossils as Ecphora gardnerae, and in 1988, Ward and Gilinsky further subdivided them into subspecies.