CollectA have supplied Everything Dinosaur with some further images of their new for 2022 prehistoric animal figures including a life reconstruction of the CollectA Cooperoceras model. Part of the CollectA Prehistoric World “Other Prehistoric Animals” series, the replica of Cooperoceras (C. texanum) is shown against a seascape backdrop.

Cooperoceras was an early nautiloid with a shell measuring approximately 4 inches (10 cm) long and 3 inches (7.5 cm) high. Its fossils are associated with Upper Carboniferous and Permian marine strata. The type species C. texanum was collected from the Glass Mountains and Sierra Diablo areas of Texas. These deposits contain many cephalopod fossils, and they were laid down in a shallow marine environment. The presence of photosynthesising plants in background of the Cooperoceras seascape indicate that the design team at CollectA wanted to portray Cooperoceras as a shallow water genus.

Cooperoceras along with other nautiloids is regarded as an important zonal fossil by invertebrate palaeontologists. It helps scientists to correlate the relative ages of geographically distant strata based on the fossil specimens contained therein.

A Cooperoceras Fact Sheet

Everything Dinosaur commissioned an illustration of this Palaeozoic cephalopod which could be used in a fact sheet sent out with sales of this new for 2022 CollectA model.

The function of the recurvant spines on the shell remains a mystery, although they are thought to have played a role in defence or possibly denoted sexual maturity.

CollectA are to be congratulated for introducing a range of prehistoric animal replicas that represent iconic fossil invertebrates. In recent years, the company has produced a trilobite (Redlichia rex), a model of an Orthoceras, a belemnite and a replica of the extant Horseshoe crab. Furthermore, an ammonite model (Pleuroceras) and a model of the pearly nautilus have been added to the CollectA series.

To view the range of CollectA Popular prehistoric world models and figures available from Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: CollectA Prehistoric World Models and Figures.