1.6" Metacanthina (Asteropyge) Trilobite - Lghaft

Metacanthina (Asteropyge) Trilobite - Lghaft #57779

This is a very impressive, 1.6" long specimen of Metacanthina issoumourensis often referred to as an "Asteropyge" or “Kayserops”. It's nicely prepared and displays very aesthetically on a sculpted piece of limestone. Excellent shell preservation including clear eye facets. Both the genal spines have bene prepared free of the surrounding rock. There is some minor shell restoration along repaired cracks, maybe 1-2%.

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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