Rare, 2" Gabriceraurus Trilobite Fossil - Wisconsin

Rare, Gabriceraurus Trilobite Fossil - Wisconsin #161712

This is a beautiful, 2" long Gabriceraurus mifflinensis from the Platteville Formation in Wisconsin. You don't see many trilobites from this area because the formations are rarely collected and the trilobites are quite rare to find complete. This one is 3D and laid out perfectly prone. The right cheek is a little tucked under but the trilobite looks great from the top down. There is no restoration on this 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.