Ammonite Aptychus-Germany 002

Taxa: Ammonite Aptychus

Age: Jurassic

Geology: Solnhofen Limestone

Locality: Bavaria, Germany

Solhofen Limestone

The Solnhofen Limestone is a famous Late Jurassic lithographic limestone formation located in Bavaria, Germany, dating to about 150 million years ago. It is renowned for its exceptionally well-preserved fossils, including complete skeletons and soft tissue impressions of various organisms. The fine-grained, plattenkalk limestone was deposited in a series of shallow lagoons and has been extensively quarried for both building materials and fossil extraction. The exceptional preservation is attributed to the anoxic conditions at the bottom of the lagoons, which minimized decay and scavenging.

Aptychus

An aptychus in ammonites is a pair of calcified plates that are often found associated with the shells of these extinct marine cephalopods. The aptychus is believed to have served one of two primary functions: as part of the jaw apparatus or as an operculum, a protective lid that closed off the shell's aperture when the ammonite retracted its body.