1.35" Trinucleid Trilobite (Declivolithus) - Mecissi, Morocco

Trinucleid Trilobite (Declivolithus) - Mecissi, Morocco #283764

This is a 1.35" wide specimen of the Trinucleid trilobite Declivolithus from Morocco. It has natural orange preservation due to the oxidation of iron pyrite which had replaced the fossil. The trilobite has excellent detail and comes with an acrylic display stand. There is a repaired crack running through the shale and the trilobite.

This trilobite has really dramatic cephalic pits along its "head shield". The exact purpose of these pits is unknown, but theories are that they could have had sensory purposes or aided in filter feeding.

An Upper Ordovician (Katian) Trilobite Fauna From the Lower Ktaoua Formation, Morocco

Trilobites were a very diverse group of extinct marine arthropods. They first appeared in the fossil record in the Early Cambrian (521 million years ago) and went extinct during the Permian mass extinction (250 million years ago). They were one of the most successful of the early animals on our planet: over 25,000 species have been described, filling nearly every evolutionary niche. Due in large part to their hard exoskeletons (shells), they left an excellent fossil record.

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