Spectacular Dicranurus Monstrosus

This is one of the most impressive and sought after trilobites in the world, fittingly named, Dicranurus monstrosus. It is 2.65 inches in length and comes from the Lower Devonian Laatchana Formation of Morocco. The specimen is beautifully presented on a sculpted piece of natural matrix and both the "ram horns" and genal spines have been prepared free standing. It is truly an impressive display piece which would have required more than 25 hours of meticulous preparation work.

Due in large part to it's collect-ability Dicranurus is one of the most faked trilobites on the market. You can find dozens of fakes on ebay, fossil shows and on other retail sites. This specimen is REAL. The ONLY restoration done to this piece is to repair a few flakes of damaged shell along the axis where the trilobite had been broken during collection. I did this restoration myself as well as removing some remaining rock from the horns and genal spines.

A rapid development of intricate ornamentation on trilobites like horns and spines occurred during the Devonian period. The reason is simple, they were for defensive purposes and this evolution coincided with the rise of fish. Obviously trilobites were on the menu.