2.4" Odontochile Trilobite With Paralejurus - Morocco

Odontochile Trilobite With Paralejurus - Morocco #178105

This is a true Odontochile trilobite from Morocco. Many of the trilobites from Morocco referred to as Odontochile are actually of the genus Zilchovaspis. Odontochile has a much more circular cephalon border, and a shorter or almost non-existant tail spine. This specimen would be 2.4" long if outstretched and is associated with a similarly-sized Paralejurus.

Nice eye facet preservation in the Odontochile and it has been prepared with free-standing genal spines. There is approximately 5% shell restoration on both of the trilobites.

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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