Tainoceras malsineri with Bellerophon

Bellerophon, a planispiral snail, is one of the best-known fossils of the Dolomites: it lends the Bellerophon Formation its name and bears witness to the definitive arrival of the sea at the end of the Permian period. This exhibit shows the snail together with a large Tainoceras malsineri, ancestor of today's Nautilus cephalopod. The large number of microfossils (calcareous algae and foraminifers) testifies to the wide variety of life forms in existence shortly before the mass extinction.