1.7" Spiny Lichid (Hoplolichoides) Trilobite - St. Petersburg, Russia

Spiny Lichid (Hoplolichoides) Trilobite - St Petersburg, Russia #200386

This is a 1.7" long example of the spiny, lichid trilobite, Hoplolichoides furcifer. It comes from the Middle Ordovician deposits near St. Petersburg, Russia. Check out all the bumps/tubericals covering it's entire body. The tail is curled under but present and it has been nicely prepared. Total shell restoration is about 10%, primarily on the right hand side of the thorax.

Photo of the Vilpovitsy quarry near St. Petersburg, Russia, where this trilobite was found.

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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