Giant belemnite phragmocone, Acrocoelites from Whitby, UK

[TqB]

At over 4" across, this is the last few chambers of by far the largest diameter belemnite phragmocone I've ever seen. (If anyone has one from a Megateuthis, I'd love to see it! - they don't seem ever to be preserved.)

 

Given to me by a friend, it is in a nodule from the Jet Rock (Upper Lias, Lower Jurassic) of Port Mulgrave, north Yorkshire coast.

It must have belonged to an exceptionally large Acrocoelites trisulculosus which is probably the only belemnite to occur in this bed. It's a large species anyway -  typical rostra of it are 5 - 7" long but about 9" has very rarely been recorded so a bit longer may be possible.

 

Photo 6: Not having such a large Acrocoelites in my collection,  I've done a conservative mock-up of it with a smallish (9") Megateuthis and another piece of phragmocone which is my second largest... A total length of 20 - 24" seems about right.

 

Photo 7: For comparison , I have a complete but crushed example of A. trisulculosus about 12" long, the rostrum being 6.5".

 

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6) This should probably be stretched more...

 

7) A normal size Acrocoelites trisulculosus with crushed phragmocone (the strange ridged structure on top of it is a crushed on-edge Harpoceras shell mouth)

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

WOW ! ! !

What a nice friend you have! 

Love the mock up you've done there.

Really marvelous acquisition, most impressive. 

 

[ynot]

Nice!

[FossilDAWG]

Thats'a lotta calamari!

 

Really, that would have been one big squid!

 

Don

[Ludwigia]

4 hours ago, TqB said:

 

If anyone has one from a Megateuthis, I'd love to see it! - they don't seem ever to be preserved.

 

Now that is one heckuva monster! Here's my one and only Megateuthis phragmocone with a humble 2" diameter. From the Bajocian humphresianum zone at Vossberg in Lower Saxony.

 

[JohnBrewer]

Wow!

[Malone]

What he said!

[TqB]

17 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

WOW ! ! !

What a nice friend you have! 

Love the mock up you've done there.

Really marvelous acquisition, most impressive. 

 

He is a very generous friend! I've searched the same area for decades and never found anything near this size - can't find any records either...

17 hours ago, ynot said:

Nice!

 

16 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Thats'a lotta calamari!

 

Really, that would have been one big squid!

 

Don

 

12 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

Wow!

 

11 hours ago, Malone said:

What he said!

Thanks, all! It might go to a museum if they want it.

13 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Now that is one heckuva monster! Here's my one and only Megateuthis phragmocone with a humble 2" diameter. From the Bajocian humphresianum zone at Vossberg in Lower Saxony.

 

Thought you might have one, Roger, thanks! Humphresianum Zone preservation doesn't seem to favour these, none in the UK either.