2.7" Mammites Nodosoides Ammonite Fossil Shell Upper Cretaceous Age Morocco

Location: Jbel Toubkal, Atlas Mountains, Morocco

Weight: 5.1 Ounces

Dimension: 2.7 Inches Long, 2.1 Inches Wide, 1.4 Inches Thick

This is a real fossil

Upper Cretaceous, 80 Million Years Old

The items pictured are the ones you will receive. 

Mammites Nodosoides Ammonite

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine animals that belong to the subclass Ammonoidea, which is part of the class Cephalopoda. They thrived during the Mesozoic era, particularly in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, which spanned approximately 140 million years, from about 201 million years ago to their extinction around 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period. This extinction event coincided with the demise of the dinosaurs and was likely caused by a combination of catastrophic environmental changes, including a significant asteroid impact.

Ammonites are renowned for their distinctive coiled shells, which display an extraordinary range of sizes and shapes. These shells were divided into chambers separated by walls known as septa. The living animal inhabited only the final chamber, called the body chamber, while the earlier chambers were filled with gas or fluid to maintain buoyancy control. The intricate suture patterns—where the septa met the shell wall—serve as key identifiers for distinguishing ammonite species and genera.

The ammonite shell was a marvel of natural design, serving dual purposes: it offered protection from predators and enabled efficient flotation in marine waters.

As carnivorous cephalopods, ammonites likely fed on small plankton, crustaceans, and even other ammonites. They possessed tentacle-like appendages for capturing prey and sharp beak-like jaws, much like their modern relatives—squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish. Fossil evidence indicates that they were active, agile swimmers, thriving in warm, shallow seas rather than in the deep ocean.

Over time, ammonites displayed remarkable evolutionary diversity. More than 10,000 species have been identified from fossil records discovered across the globe. Their rapid evolutionary turnover makes them invaluable as index fossils, helping scientists date and correlate sedimentary rock layers across vast geological regions.

The evolutionary lineage of ammonites traces back to straight-shelled nautiloids of the Devonian period. Throughout their long history, they developed increasingly complex shell morphologies and intricate suture patterns that enhanced buoyancy and shell strength. Although ammonites survived multiple mass extinctions—including the catastrophic Permian-Triassic event—they ultimately perished around 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.

This final extinction, which also wiped out the dinosaurs, was most likely caused by a massive asteroid impact that led to rapid climate change and a collapse of global marine ecosystems, marking the end of one of Earth’s most fascinating evolutionary success stories.