Hoploscaphites nodosus 2

Hoploscaphites nodosus, Pierre Shale Formation, South Dakota. This rare and beautiful 73 million year old Scaphite specimen is a must for any serious ammonite collector. This two inch Scaphite is mounted on its original concretion fossil ball base. Collected within the past decade and part of the Artist’s personal collection. Comes with label and color brochure.

The Family Scaphitidae are an extinct order of cephalopods that flourished in the later Paleozoic and throughout the Mesozoic Epoch, but became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period the same time as the dinosaurs. They are related to the extant and extinct forms of squid, octopi and Nautiloids. Scaphites are characterized by their smaller unique J-shaped body chamber, prominent ribs and numerous tubercles, clavi or nodes. They were primarily plankton eaters, but as with all predatory animals, they were opportunistic feeders, eating whatever they were able to catch. They, in turn, were feed upon by fish, reptiles, crustaceans and other larger cephalopods.

These extinct Cephalopods floated in the warm oceans during the Cretaceous Period 70 million years ago and had coiled shells with chambers that filled with gas and provided both buoyancy and propulsion in the water. Although Scaphites are found all over the world, limited supplies of colorful iridescent quality Scaphites are only found in the protective, shell preserving septarian concretions and fossil balls, in the Pierre Shale Formation and marine equivalents of the Western Interior Seaway of Montana, and South Dakota. All specimens Fluoresce brightly under UV Light.