2.3" Stunning Erbenochile Trilobite With Hollardops - Foum Zguid

This is a stunning specimen of the tower-eyed trilobite Erbenochile from the Timrhanrhart Formation of Morocco. It's 2.3" long, and most of the limestone has been removed from around it so that it appears to "fly" above the rock. Excellent detail and preparation. Just check out the facets in the tower eyes and all of the tiny spines. There is no restoration on the Erbenochile.

Naturally associated with it is a 2.5" Hollardops. This trilobite does have some shell restoration, particularly on the left hand edge of the head, and edge of tail. There is also a tail of another Hollardops, head of Acastoides and partial, enrolled phacopid present on the piece.

Erbenochile has extraordinarily large eyes containing over 400 eye facets. The massive eyes allow full 360 degree coverage in the horizontal plane and were high enough to allow the trilobite to see backwards over its thorax.

There are two known species of Erbenochile and Erbenochile issoumourensis is distinguished from Erbenochile erbeni by several key features. Issoumourensis has a smaller number of eye facets, it does not have an "eye shade" extending laterally from the to of it's eyes, the spines of shorter, and the cephalon rounded triangular and without tubercles.