1.4" Spiny Leonaspis Trilobite - Foum Zguid, Morocco

Spiny Leonaspis Trilobite - Foum Zguid, Morocco #226030

Here is a 1.4" long (including spines), spiny Leonaspis trilobite from Foum Zguid, Morocco. The dramatic spines are well preserved, you can see the small stalk eyes poking up above its head. There is some separation between the segments but the shell is very detailed and the preparation is good.

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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