3.6" Red Crotalocephalina Trilobite - Flying Preparation

Red Crotalocephalina Trilobite - Flying Preparation #191694

This an unusual, red colored Crotalocephalina trilobite collected near Foum Zguid, Morocco. I don't think I've ever had another Crotalocephalina with this shell coloration before. Nearly all of the limestone was removed from around it during preparation, leaving it "flying" on a pedistal of stone. Restoration is about 1-2% in total along repaired cracks. Really an exceptional specimen.

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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