A SPINY TRILOBITE 

MOROCCO

Trilobite Quadrops, flexuosa (Philonyx) (8.5 cm), Devonian (circa 408-393 million years ago). A beautifully prepared specimen, with the spines deployed in a dramati💧c fashion, giving this specimen a life-like appearance. Presented in a custom vitrine.

A striking example of a spiny trilobite, a member of the Acastidae family known as Quadrops flexuosa, or Philonyx.  🎶The profusion of spines found on this specimen served as a defense against its many predators during an era of dramatic geological and evolutionary change. 

Trilobites are a class of marine arachnomorph arthropods that inhabited the seas during the Paleozoic Era, from the Cambrian through the Permien perio♔d. They existed in oceans for over 300 million years, with last of them disappearing during the mass extinction at the end of the Permien period, 250 million years ago —making them one of the most successful species to ever live. With it's multitude of spines, in particular those arching over the eyes, this trilobite has the 𝔍appearance of an alien creature, making it hard to imagine it imagine that they once inhabited our planet in multitudes.