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Ammonites
The beautiful spiral shells of these long-extinct marine invertebrates are among the most sought after and recognizable of fossils, yet little has been published about ammonites outside of geological journals. Neale Monks and Philip Palmer look at the latest ideas on ammonite biology and ecology to present this detailed picture of a once diverse and widespread group of animals.
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First published May 1, 1902
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 27, 2018
This would have been such a good Eyewitness book. I can picture it now: a glossy double-page spread comparing the ammonite and its distant relative the nautilus, a look-inside feature allowing the reader to peel back the layers of the ammonite shell, perky captions, photos for days...
Well. Ammonites covers about the same ground as an Eyewitness book and is a decent introduction to these charismatic extinct animals. Most of the information (ammonite physiology, evolution, biology, extinction) is discussed in greater depth in Danna Staaf's excellent Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, but Neale Monks's book is a logically organized, concise, and well-illustrated overview to ammonites. The photos, while not as sexily arranged or abundant as in an Eyewitness book, are well-chosen and thoughtfully captioned.
As a casual ammonite collector, I was hoping for a bit more help with identification. (My collection lives on my desk at work, so when my program crashes and takes my last hour's worth of edits, these Jurassic fossils remind me that this, too, shall pass.) I'm interested in learning more about my fossils, and Ammonites does have a helpful section on ammonite morphology that breaks down the terminology (e.g. planispiral, evolute vs. involute) used to distinguish between ammonite species. There's also a chapter on taxonomy, which is maybe slightly helpful for narrowing things to order (most ammonites are in the order - wait for it - Ammonitina), but will definitely not enable you to ID anything to genus or species. Still, it's more info than is otherwise readily available outside academic journals, and I'm not holding my breath that anyone will produce a true identification guide anytime soon.
Ammonites has slightly too much information for the casually interested, and definitely not enough for even the most unambitious collector. (My Madagascan ammonites continue to be labeled in my head as Cleoniceras-ish.) But it's fine as an introduction, and the photos make up for a lot.
Well. Ammonites covers about the same ground as an Eyewitness book and is a decent introduction to these charismatic extinct animals. Most of the information (ammonite physiology, evolution, biology, extinction) is discussed in greater depth in Danna Staaf's excellent Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, but Neale Monks's book is a logically organized, concise, and well-illustrated overview to ammonites. The photos, while not as sexily arranged or abundant as in an Eyewitness book, are well-chosen and thoughtfully captioned.
As a casual ammonite collector, I was hoping for a bit more help with identification. (My collection lives on my desk at work, so when my program crashes and takes my last hour's worth of edits, these Jurassic fossils remind me that this, too, shall pass.) I'm interested in learning more about my fossils, and Ammonites does have a helpful section on ammonite morphology that breaks down the terminology (e.g. planispiral, evolute vs. involute) used to distinguish between ammonite species. There's also a chapter on taxonomy, which is maybe slightly helpful for narrowing things to order (most ammonites are in the order - wait for it - Ammonitina), but will definitely not enable you to ID anything to genus or species. Still, it's more info than is otherwise readily available outside academic journals, and I'm not holding my breath that anyone will produce a true identification guide anytime soon.
Ammonites has slightly too much information for the casually interested, and definitely not enough for even the most unambitious collector. (My Madagascan ammonites continue to be labeled in my head as Cleoniceras-ish.) But it's fine as an introduction, and the photos make up for a lot.
December 21, 2017
A bit technical for the lay reader towards the end, but otherwise a nifty little book about a fossil we've all seen, but perhaps not troubled ourselves to think about.
December 28, 2023
Allright so I want to say that this book while definintely shorter than you would expect given the topic. It's rather akin to those old Eyewitness Books but the pictures are not arranged in the same artistic manner and are displayed in a more scientific way being concentrated in one general area. And I think it should be said the information on them for the most part, given it was written in the early 2000s is pretty up to date when it comes to their ecology, diversity, and evolution.
With that being said there are some gaps when it comes to accuracy specifically in regards to taxonomy of ammonites. So Ammonites or more aaccurately Ammonoidea are a subclass of cephalopods which are divided into six orders distinguished by several shell features;
The Agoniatitida, Clymeniida, Goniatitida, Prolecanitida, Ceratitida, and the Ammonitida. The Ammonitida( True ammonites) are themselves divided into four suborders; Ammonitina, the Ancyloceratina, the Lytoceratina, and the Phylloceratina. Yet for some reason this books treats all the orders as suborders of Ammonidea which is treated like an order. This makes absolutely no sense. It also mentions an informal grouping of Agoniatitida, Clymeniida, Goniatitida, Prolecanitida as paleoammonites which I've never heard of. Plus it treats the suborders of Ammonitida as equals to these full blown orders, rather strange.
The book also doesn't do much with stratigraphy. still I think it's still a sloid book but definintely consider doing more research and be wary of some of it's claims and recognize it's taxonomy is quite abberant.
With that being said there are some gaps when it comes to accuracy specifically in regards to taxonomy of ammonites. So Ammonites or more aaccurately Ammonoidea are a subclass of cephalopods which are divided into six orders distinguished by several shell features;
The Agoniatitida, Clymeniida, Goniatitida, Prolecanitida, Ceratitida, and the Ammonitida. The Ammonitida( True ammonites) are themselves divided into four suborders; Ammonitina, the Ancyloceratina, the Lytoceratina, and the Phylloceratina. Yet for some reason this books treats all the orders as suborders of Ammonidea which is treated like an order. This makes absolutely no sense. It also mentions an informal grouping of Agoniatitida, Clymeniida, Goniatitida, Prolecanitida as paleoammonites which I've never heard of. Plus it treats the suborders of Ammonitida as equals to these full blown orders, rather strange.
The book also doesn't do much with stratigraphy. still I think it's still a sloid book but definintely consider doing more research and be wary of some of it's claims and recognize it's taxonomy is quite abberant.
July 20, 2021
This was a really neat guide, which was designed for non-specialists and includes lots of photos and diagrams. The author explains the evolutionary history of ammonites, how they relate to other cephalopods, how other cephalopods can be used to infer certain features of ammonite life, how scientists interpret and analyze ammonite fossils, and the taxonomy and evolutionary history of ammonites.
August 1, 2019
I would love to add this book to my library. It's a great reference, for example, it explains suture lines along with drawings and photos of the various suture lines.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews