Phanerotinus cristatus
Phanerotinus cristatus
Site Details
- Location
- Phanerotinus cristatus
- Grid reference
- 53.5294, -8.9835
- Fossil Name
- Phanerotinus cristatus
- Fossil Type
- Marine animals (shells, invertebrate animals – without backbones)
- Fossil Age
- Carboniferous
- Rock Type
- Limestone
- Access Info
- Historic discovery - not accessible
- Fossil Info
Gastropods are snails - animals with a hard coiled shell. Fossil gastropods from the Carboniferous are mostly marine. Phanerotinus cristatus is a very rare type of gastropod due to it’s unusual shell shape. It was gigantic with spiny flanges along the outside of the shell. Only 15 of these fossils have been found worldwide. This one was found in a wall in Tuam, Co. Galway by a Chartered Surveyor and geological enthusiast Brendan Arrigan in 2017. The fossil was carefully removed and now resides at the National Musueum in Dublin.