6.8" Wide, Enrolled Isotelus Brachycephalus Trilobite - Ohio

Wide, Enrolled Isotelus Brachycephalus Trilobite - Ohio #228132

This is a large, 6.8" wide, enrolled Isotelus brachycephalus trilobite collected from the Waynesville Formation (Blanchester Series) of Adams County, Ohio. It's nicely positioned on large slab of stabilized shale that measures 11.7 x 7.9". If outstretched, this trilobite would be approximately 10" long.

As is almost always the case with these large Isotelus, the shell was very fractured so it required substantial amounts of repair to put it back into place, and restoration or any missing bits of shell. Both genal spines have undergone repair and restoration.

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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