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Product Description
Famous for producing an astonishing diversity of rare and most intricately preserved fossils found anywhere in the world, the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone Formation of southern Germany is legendary. Fine quality Solnhofen fossils are now much more rare than in past years. Many superb specimens come from old private collections as modern machinery destroys many fossils that were once easy to see and extract in the days of manual labor. Also, many quarries are now closed to commercial operations.
This is a TOP GRADE example of the extinct shrimp, Antrimpos sp.. The shrimp is superbly preserved with none of the customary painting and enhancement. Fossil shrimp with painted details sell for a fraction of this price but if you want a genuine example without such artificlal embellishment, then this is a highly recommended example of exceptional NATURAL quality. The carapace and appendages are well-mineralized and wonderfully preserved. Fossil is on its original UNBROKEN slab of beautiful lithographic limestone. Also on the same slab, there is a large 3D fossil of a coprolite (fossil poop) from a giant squid, Leptotheutis sp.. Scattered around the slab are also floating crinoids, Saccacoma pectinata. What is nice is that these floating crinoids are NOT PAINTED. Many fossils of these on the market are fake and painted whereas here, you see 100% natural examples.
HISTORY
Antrimpos is an extinct member of the diverse group of arthropods called DECAPODA. Decapods comprise lobster, shrimp, prawns and crabs. The majority of Solnhofen crustaceans are decapods. Of all Solnhofen decapod fossils, shrimp such as Aeger, are the most common and abundant. The Antrimpos shrimp is an extinct species of predatory marine crustacean. These marine creatures died out at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Lobster, shrimp and prawns all possess an elongated, segmented body with a flexible carapace covering the thorax and head. Other basic traits are the presence of multiple pairs of limbs and a fan-like tail. Because of the lightness and loose articulation of a decapod's carapace, intact preservation of the entire creature is quite rare and the abundance of the animal in the fossil layers is most often represented by partial or poorly preserved specimens.
WARNING: Many crustacean fossils on lithographic limestone from both Germany and Lebanon ARE artificially enhanced in some way. This often occurs by painting artificial fine detail of appendages and antennae, but many are complete forgeries with no actual fossil present. A variety of sellers offer these fakes and heavily enhanced "fossils" as 100% genuine instead of being disclosed accurately. If you examine the images above, and compare the REAL detail of our specimens with substantially lower-priced offers of some other dealers, you will easily see the difference especially if they post high-resolution images. Examples of some fake crustacean fossils can be seen here. The low price of one of these fake fossils is a FRACTION of what a real specimen should sell for. Quarry owners that excavate these fossils are not stupid and all know the value of genuine, fine grade specimens. Those quarries and diggers charge accordingly. There is no comparison to a completely genuine fossil to a fake or mostly fake piece.
