Nautiloids dominated the Ordovician period, that some should have shown up a date of 400 million years in the Devonian is no real surprise. I'll try and have a look around and try and find out what is unique about this particular discovery.
I hear you -- I'm not sure what makes this newsworthy myself (then again I might not know a newsworthy ammonite event if you beat me over the head with one)... But that's why we're all here, right?
Perhaps it's just a case of limited knowledge. Depending on who told the story, and how, and who was receiving it, I'm sure it could sound quite sensational. "400 million years old!?? Stop the presses!!"
That's quite interesting, I wonder what Neil Landman will make of those ammonites? Pity the article does not how a photo of them.
It's quite a rare thing to find fossils at the boundary of the Cretaceous-Tertiary; these must have been some of the very last ammonite species on the planet. Ammonites were in serious decline for a few million years even before their extinction, I think to find them at the point in time marking deaths door is unusual in itself.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.