Description
This is a 1 1/8 inch prone Solenhofen Eryma Lobster species, modestiforme with both claws outstretched. It is a decapod crustacean from the famous Limestone quarry in Eichstadt, Germany.
The Solnhofen Limestone is a lithographic limestone that is known as a Jurassic Lagerstatte. It has preserved a rare assemblage of organisms to include but not limited to, fish, plants, insects and including the famous Archaeopteryx. The most famous of all the fossils of the Solnhofen Limestone is the early feathered dinosaur. The Solnhofen beds of Germany are found near Eichstadt in the German State of Bavaria.
Solenhofen Eryma Lobster. During the Jurassic this area was located at the edge of the Tethys Sea. Because this included shallow seas and lagoons whose salinity varied throughout time many animals lived there. But at times the salinity was so high as to not sustain life. The depths of the lagoons were often low on oxygen and as such creatures and anything that would become a fossils would not be scavenged by other creatures. They would die, or wash in and be covered by a soft fine grained mud silt.
These areas as they fossilized created a fine grained limestone that was used for making lithographic plates. Because of the fine grain it also preserved fossil very well.
The Solenhofen Eryma Lobster specimen is 1 1/8 inches long and sits on an irregular cream colored matrix 7 x 7 inches. Both claws are outstretched.
