3.4" Crotalocephalina Trilobite (Molt) - Atchana, Morocco

Crotalocephalina Trilobite (Molt) - Atchana, Morocco #208926

This is a 3.4" long, trilobite (Crotalocephalina gibbus) fossil quarried from the Lhandar Formation near Atchana, Morocco. It is nicely inflated and has been prepared from the surrounding limestone so that it looks like it is ready to crawl off of the rock. It is a molt with both cheeks missing. The general shape of the cheeks have been carved into the rock so it's hard to tell they are missing at first glance.

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.

More About Trilobites