Rare, 12.5" Ammonite (Argonauticeras) - Befandriana, Madagascar

This is not one of your typical Madagascar ammonites, it is a rare Argonauticeras from Befandriana in Northern Madagascar. The chambers are filled with a gorgeous, honey/orange colored agate. It's been sliced in half and polished to reveal the inner chamber detail.

I've only been able to acquire a handful of these ammonites over the years as the location they come from is more remote.

This ammonite is very thick and heavy. It's around 2.8" thick at its widest point and the pair weighs about 27 lbs. The very center of the ammonite has been composited from another partial specimen because it was not very well defined. This is very frequently the case with larger ammonites.

Comes with a pair of metal display stands.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.
What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Argonauticeras sp.
LOCATION
Befandriana, Northern Madagascar
SIZE
12.5" wide (each half), up to 2.8" thick
ITEM
#168520
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