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

Location: Lee Creek, North Carolina

Weight: 0.7 Ounces 

Dimensions: 1.9 Inches Long, 1.8 Inches Wide, 1.8 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 that once prowled the Miocene seas of what is now the Eastern United States. Part of the Muricidae family, these snails were skilled hunters, using their specialized radula to bore perfectly round holes into the shells of bivalves, reaching the soft tissue inside. Fossils of E. gardnerae are especially abundant in Miocene marine strata of Maryland, earning it the distinction of the state fossil. Originally confused with Ecphora quadricostata, Maryland specimens were reclassified in 1987 by Druid Wilson and later subdivided into subspecies, revealing the diversity of this remarkable predator.