Bargain, 2.55" Crotalocephalina Trilobite - Atchana, Morocco

Bargain, Crotalocephalina Trilobite - Atchana, Morocco #89232

This is a 2.55" specimen on Crotalocephalina gibbus from Atchana, Morocco. It's preserved nicely outstretched with nice shell detail. There is only about 1-2% shell restoration along the repaired crack running up the right hand side of the thorax.

There is a lot of pitting to the shell of the head and right hand side of the thorax. Under microscope it appears that this was caused by weathering weakening the shell and causing some hollow areas underneath it. Then during preparation lots of airscribe dings punching through this weakened shell. It's still a very aesthetic looking trilobite despite the damage, but it has been bargain priced.

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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