1" Acanthopyge (Lobopyge) Trilobite - Exposed Hypostome

Acanthopyge (Lobopyge) Trilobite - Exposed Hypostome #196633

This is a very nicely prepared example of the small, lichid trilobite Acanthopyge bassei from the Middle Devonian of Morocco. Exceptional preparation on this very detailed trilobite. It's arched backwards but would be about 1" long if outstretched. You can see all of the tiny bumps on its shell preserved and the hypostome is exposed underneath its head.

The paper describing this 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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