I'm Mike Hermily, I've been working at the
Lapworth Museum as a volunteer for the past
four years and I came across this specimen
of ammonite. Ammonites are normally used for
stratification. They help to identify the
ages of the rocks because they are widespread,
evolve fairly rapidly and are easily preserved.
This particular specimen Liparoceras (meaning
”fathead” because of its extreme width)
cheltiense comes from a quarry at Blockley
in Gloucestershire and is special because
of the state of preservation. Although most
of the specimen is lithified and is buried
in the matrix, some of the shell remains and
shows the internal structure of the animal.
In particular the body chamber walls; the
scepter are well preserved and you can see
how they become more extensive as they approach
the edge of the shell, the surface of which
can be seen on this specimen, suggesting that
this improves the strength of the shell. [Music]
