2.2" Phacopid (Adrisiops) Trilobite - Jbel Oudriss, Morocco

Phacopid (Adrisiops) Trilobite - Jbel Oudriss, Morocco #222408

This is a 2.2" long, phacopid (Adrisiops weugi) trilobite from Jbel Oudriss, Morocco. Adrisiops had been informally referred to as 'smiley Phacops' until it was described as the type species of a new genus in 2017. It is one of the less frequently seen genus of phacopids from Morocco.

This specimen is nice eye facet preservation in both eyes.

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 with over 25k currently described species, filling nearly every evolutionary niche. Due in large part to a hard exoskeleton (shell), they left an excellent fossil record.

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