3.2" Mammites Nodosoides Ammonite Fossil Shell Upper Cretaceous Age Morocco

Location: Jbel Toubkal, Atlas Mountains, Morocco

Weight: 7.8 Ounces

Dimension: 3.2 Inches Long, 2.6 Inches Wide, 1.3 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 were fascinating marine cephalopods belonging to the subclass Ammonoidea, closely related to modern-day squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish. They are best known for their distinctive coiled shells, which varied greatly in size, shape, and ornamentation. These shells were divided into chambers by walls called septa, with the living animal occupying only the outermost body chamber, while the inner chambers were filled with gas or fluid to regulate buoyancy. The intricate suture patterns formed where the septa joined the shell wall are key features used by paleontologists to classify different ammonite species.

The ammonite shell served multiple functions, acting both as protection from predators and as a flotation aid that allowed these creatures to move efficiently through ancient seas.

Ammonites were carnivorous, preying on small plankton, crustaceans, and possibly other ammonites. They possessed tentacle-like appendages and sharp beak-like jaws, much like modern cephalopods, to capture and consume their prey. Fossil evidence indicates that ammonites were agile swimmers, thriving in warm, shallow seas rather than the deep ocean.

Over their long evolutionary history, ammonites displayed remarkable diversity. More than 10,000 species have been discovered from fossil records around the world, making them one of the most successful and widespread marine organisms of their time. Their rapid evolution and short geological lifespan make them excellent index fossils for dating and correlating sedimentary rock layers.

The evolutionary lineage of ammonites can be traced back to straight-shelled nautiloids during the Devonian period. Over time, they developed increasingly complex shell structures and intricate suture patterns, which improved buoyancy control and shell strength. Despite surviving multiple mass extinction events, including the Permian-Triassic extinction, ammonites ultimately vanished during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, about 66 million years ago.

This final extinction was likely triggered by a massive asteroid impact, which caused drastic climate changes, ocean acidification, and the collapse of marine food chains—marking the end of ammonites and many other marine species alongside the dinosaurs.