3.3" Spiny Quadrops Trilobite - Multi-Toned Shell Coloration

Spiny Quadrops Trilobite - Multi-Toned Shell Coloration #244458

This is a gorgeous specimen of the very alien-looking Quadrops trilobite from the El Otfal Formation of Morocco. It is 3.3" long, has a natural multi-toned shell coloration, and dozens of free standing spines. The preparation quality is outstanding and would have taken on order of 60-80 hours of work by a very skilled preparitor.

This specimen has about 4-5% shell restoration where there was a repaired crack in the trilobite. Only a few of the spines have been restored.

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.