Large Acanthopyge Trilobite With Crotalocephalina - Atchana, Morocco

This is a 1.25" long lichid (Acanthopyge bassei) trilobite from the Lhandar Formation of Morocco. It maybe the largest specimen of this rare species I have seen and is impeccably prepared. Not only that but there is a beautiful, 3.2" long Crotalocephalina gibbus naturally associated with it on the rock. This is a fantastic association of two different genre of trilobites from Atchana, Morocco.

There is no restoration on Acanthopyge and about 3% shell restoration on the Crotalocephalina (mainly on head).

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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