Placenticeras meeki

Placenticeras meeki is an ammonite species from the Late Cretaceous. These cephalopods were fast-moving nektonic carnivores. They mainly lived in the American Interior Basin (Western Interior Seaway).

Placenticeras meeki Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Fossil shell of Placenticeras meeki on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	†Ammonoidea
Order:	†Ammonitida
Family:	†Placenticeratidae
Genus:	†Placenticeras
Species:	†P. meeki
Binomial name
†Placenticeras meeki (Böhm, 1898)

Description

Shells of this species could reach a diameter of about 20 to 50 centimetres (7.9 to 19.7 in), although largest specimen could reach 1 metre (3 ft 3 in).^[1] They are discoidal, involute and compressed. Whorls are stout and rounded to diameter of 3 millimeters. The surface of fossils is usually covered by opalized nacre (ammolite).

Etymology

The name honours American Palaeontologist Fielding Bradford Meek.