Parapuzosia seppenradensis

Replica of Parapuzosia seppenradensis in Seppenrade

• Northern Germany

Parapuzosia seppenradensis is an ammonite from the Upper Cretaceous of northern Germany and lived about 72 million years ago in the early Campanian. The species is the largest known ammonite of the Earth's history.

The stone as a core, ie without the calcareous shell, obtained housing of the second found, larger specimen of this type measures 174.2 centimeters in diameter and weighs about 3.5 tons. It was on 22 February 1895 in a quarry in southern Munsterland at Seppenrade ( Coesfeld ) discovered in Munster. This Fund was still in the year of its discovery by Munsterlander Zoology Professor Hermann Landois (1835-1905) described as Pachydiscus seppenradensis scientifically; Nowak presented the type 1913 in the genus Parapuzosia. The first fossil specimen found by Parapuzosia seppenradensis with a maximum diameter of 136.2 centimeters in 1887 had been found in the same quarry.

The original can be seen in the foyer of the LWL Museum of Natural History in Münster and received the 2008 first recipient of the Palaeontological Society entitled " Fossil of the Year". Copies of the fossil are exhibited in Seppenrade, as well as in many museums in the world.