Saturday, April 10, 2010

Ammonite of Lyme Regis


Thanks to reader Shamalama of Pennsylvania, I have obtained my very own Lyme Regis ammonite so now I am happy as clam at high tide (or would that be an ammonite in mosasaur free waters).

This fossil ammonite is a Promicroceras planicosta found in the Black Ven Marl Member.  This small creature existed in the Sinemurian age or stage (about 191 million years ago) in the Lower Jurassic Period.  This age was named in 1842 by Alcide d'Orbigny and named after the Semur-en-Brionnais, France [source Wikipedia].  Lyme Regis is found in Dorset, England and is home of the famous paleontologist Mary Anning.  Lyme Regis is famous for their fossils particularly ammonites.



According to Wikipedia the Promicroceras (Spath, 1925) is classified as:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Ammonitida
Superfamily: Eoderocerataceae
Family: Eoderoceratidae
Genus: Promicroceras
Species: planicosta