Huge, 6.2" Spiny Psychopyge Trilobite - Issoumour, Morocco

Huge, Spiny Psychopyge Trilobite - Issoumour, Morocco #226054

This is a huge, 6.2" long, spiny Psychopyge elegans trilobite collected from the Tazoulait Formation at Issoumour, Morocco. Both the preservation and preparation on this specimen is excellent. All of the tiny spines on its thorax have been prepared free standing and there is good eye facet preservation in both eyes. The missing left genal spine is a healed injury. At over 6 inches long this is one of the largest examples of the species I have ever seen. There is only about 1% shell restoration along repaired cracks. A real collector piece.

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