1.9″ Ecphora Gardnerae Gastropod Fossil Shell Lee Creek Miocene Epoch North Carolina

Location: Lee Creek, North Carolina

Weight: 0.7 Ounces 

Dimensions: 1.9 Inches Long, 1.8 Inches Wide, 1.8 Inches Thick

The item pictured is the one you will receive. 

Miocene Epoch, 5.3 million to 23.3 million years old.

Ecphora Gardnerae is an extinct species of predatory sea snail, a gastropod belonging to the family Muricidae. It is the official state fossil of Maryland, designated as such in 1994. 

Ecphora snails were carnivorous predators. They bored holes into the shells of other mollusks, usually bivalves, to feed on their soft insides using a radula.

Ecphora gardnerae lived during the Miocene epoch. The Miocene epoch spanned from approximately 23.03 to 5.33 million years ago. Shells of E. gardnerae are found in Miocene-aged marine strata of the East Coast of the United States. 

The taxonomic history of Ecphora is complex. Initially, specimens from Maryland were identified as Ecphora quadricostata, but this name was later found to be incorrect for the Maryland species. The name Ecphora quadricostata is now restricted to a species found in Pliocene strata from Virginia to Florida. The Maryland specimens were reclassified as Ecphora gardnerae in 1987 by Druid Wilson and further subdivided into subspecies by Ward and Gilinsky in 1988.