Detailed Lochovella (Reedops) Trilobite Pair - Oklahoma

This is a beautiful, pair of partially enrolled Lochovella (Reedops) trilobites from the Black Cat Mountain quarry in Oklahoma. They are fantastically detailed, well prepared and the caramel colored shell contrasts well against the creme colored stone. The larger specimen is 1.2" wide but missing it's tail, the smaller one is complete and would have been about 1.8" long if outstretched. The base of the rock has been cut flat so that it displays nicely on a flat surface.

The Black Cat Mountain Quarry produces a limited number of arguably the most beautiful trilobites in the United States each year. Each specimen is meticulously prepared by quarry owner Bob Carroll under microscope to expose the smallest details. This is a very time consuming process, taking many hours, but yields spectacular results.

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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