2.8" Stalk-Eyed Asaphus Kowalewskii Trilobite - Russia

Stalk-Eyed Asaphus Kowalewskii Trilobite - Russia #200372

This is a really nice, 2.8" long, stalk-eyed trilobite (Asaphus kowalewskii) that looks like it is ready to crawl off of the limestone. It is Middle Ordovician in age and was collected at the Vilpovitsy quarry in the St. Petersburg region of Russia. The stalk eyes likely allowed it to survey its surroundings while remaining buried in the mud.

There is some minor shell restoration along repaired fractures in the shell, but it's much less than you typically see on these asaphids.

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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