Object of the Week: Hysteroceras orbignyi

In the September of 2024 I was starting my dissertation fieldwork at Folkestone, now the subject and findings of that can be saved for a different article, but during my time on the Gault Clay of Folkestone I found plenty of interesting things. What I wish to focus on here is this ammonite, and while it’s not particularly unique or interesting, it was one of the few whole, intact specimens of ammonites I found.

Figure 1: The ammonite in-situ in the bed. (Author photo, 2024).

The ammonite is interesting due to its preservation. Still covered in its mother-of-pearl lustre and with a pyrite (fool’s gold) coating, it is remarkably well preserved compared to a lot of the pieces I was finding. At most you’d get a section of one, or one with a chunk missing, but this was the first one I found on the site without damage.

Figure 2: A closer look. (Author photo, 2024).

It became one of my stand-out “star items” for the dissertation due to its preservation. It was featured on one of my scientific plates as well as my scientific poster, and remains one of the best-preserved fossils in my collection. Thanks to said preservation, we can easily see the ornamentation on the shell as well as the siphuncle to identify its species.

Figure 3: Item D on the ammonite plate I created. (Author photo, 2025).

While it wasn’t the first whole ammonite I have found, for the dissertation work it was a major find and a very exciting thing to find on the clay. For a quick systematic palaeontology for anyone wondering on the species identification, you can find it below.

Class: CEPHALOPODA Cuvier, 1795

Order: AMMONOIDEA Zittel, 1884

Family: BRANCOCERATIDAE Spath, 1934 

Genus: HYSTEROCERAS Hyatt, 1900

Species: orbignyi (Spath)

Figure 4: The ammonite appearing in the bottom right of the central column on my poster. (Author photo, 2025).

Berengar Needham is currently a student on the MA Museum Studies program at the University of Leicester.