3.5" Hoekaspis Trilobite - Bolivia

This is a very unusual trilobite, a Hoekaspis yahuari from Bolivia. It's preserved inside an insanely hard concretion that was broken open. Very few Hoekaspis retain their free cheeks like this example. This comes out of an old collection we recently purchased, so we have only one other specimen available besides this one.

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

SPECIES

Hoekaspis yahuari

AGE

Middle Ordovician

LOCATION

Camargo, Bolivia

FORMATION

Coroico Formation

SIZE

Trilobite 3.5" long

3.5" Hoekaspis Trilobite - Bolivia

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