11" Megistaspis Trilobite With Preserved Antennae!

Megistaspis Trilobite With Preserved Antennae! #227819

This is a really fascinating piece trilobite from the Fezouata Formation of Morocco. It is a large, 11" long Megistaspis (Ekeraspis) hammondi with well preserved, segmented antennae. You sometimes get soft-bodied preservation on these trilobites but I don't think I've ever seen antennae this well defined.

The trilobite has about 3% shell restoration overall. There is an area on the back-left side of the tail where shell has been glued back into place and some gap filling done. There is also an area on the upper, right corner of the head fragmented shell was glued back into place with some filled gaps.

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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