Very Large Lanceaspis - Site Collected Out!

This bizarre new species of Phacopida trilobite was just discovered within the past few years. It's most defining feature is an extremely elongated rostrum (nose) which represents nearly 40% of the overall body length. It seems to be related in some way to Morocconites but the rostrum is much longer. There species was recently described as a new genus and species, Lanceaspis hammondi

This is an extremely rare trilobite and I've been told by three separate sources from Morocco that the pocket from which they came from near Mjane, Morocco was completely dug out two seasons ago after a huge number of diggers descended on the location. Despite huge amount of rock quarried only a few dozen specimens were recovered. I have seen a handful of specimens of this species available for sale in the past year with price tags often in excess of $3-4k

This specimen is only the second I've been able to acquire and is the LARGEST specimen that I've seen at 2.7" long. It has a couple of repaired cracks where the rock was broken during collection but it has not been restored. Check out the eye facet detail on this specimen!

Please Note: Due to the rarity and high dollar value specimens of this trilobite are commanding on the market fakes are now starting to be produced in large numbers. My source in Morocco sent me a photo of a large batch of fake specimens he saw for sale.