“In almost all cases, it’s only the hard shell – not the soft parts – preserved in fossil ammonites.

Their hard shells made of calcium carbonate preserve well, however, important details of the living animal were largely still a mystery. Imran Rahman, a co-author and principal researcher at the Natural History Museum, added: “Ammonites are an iconic extinct group of marine animals renowned for their rich fossil record that stretches back hundreds of millions of years. We preferred to wait for the development of new, non-destructive technology – as now used in this study – to understand those internal features without harm to the fossil.” Since the discovery of the fossil over 20 years ago, we have used numerous techniques to try to decipher the soft tissues, and have resisted the option of cutting it apart and hence destroying a unique specimen to see what is inside. She said: “Preservation of soft parts is exceptionally rare in ammonites. The study’s lead author, Lesley Cherns of Cardiff University’s school of Earth and environmental sciences, said scientists had patiently waited for new techniques to emerge rather than carrying out more destructive research.Ī 3D reconstruction of the ammonite created from X-ray and neutron scan data. Up until now, scientists used the modern cephalopod nautilus as a body-plan for reconstructing ammonite biology. Publishing their findings in Geology, the team say their work suggests ammonites may be evolutionarily closer to coleoids – the sub-group of animals containing squid, octopuses and cuttlefish – than previously thought. It was unusual because it contained the fossilised remnants of soft tissue.Ī research team led by scientists from Cardiff University has now used CT and neutron scanning to create a detailed 3D computer reconstruction of the creature’s muscles and organs. In 1998, Neville Hollingworth, an avid-fossil hunter, discovered an exceptionally well-preserved ammonite in an open gravel pit in Gloucestershire in 1998.

Researchers scanned an unusually well-preserved ammonite in which the soft insides were intact.

Ammonite fossils