8.9" Megistaspis With Antennae, Carpoids & Trilobites On Back Of Rock

Megistaspis With Antennae, Carpoids & Trilobites On Back Of Rock #191806

This is a really cool piece for many reasons. It comes from the Fezouata Formation Morocco. Central to it is a large, 8.9" long Megistaspis (Ekeraspis) hammondi trilobite with faintly preserved antennae. There are also several partial carpoids on the front of the rock with bright red preservation.

When you turn over the rock to look at the back it is absolutely covered in a trilobite hash. This hash is made up of hundreds of partial to near complete trilobites of an unidentified species.

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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