Trilobites
Trilobite fossils are one of the most popular invertebrate fossils with thousands of species to collect. We have trilobites from the US and Morocco at some of the most affordable prices!
What is a Trilobite?
Trilobites are an extinct variety of arthropods and were one of the first animals to have eyes. Some are nearly 550 million years old and despite going extinct during the Permian mass extinction 250 million years ago there's still a great fossil record.
In our collection of trilobite fossils for sale you can choose small flat specimens or rolled into a tight protective ball and occasionally you'll even find large ones in a half-curled position as if it were crawling over a rock. These larger specimen are more rare however you'll find a variety of trilobites for sale from around the world including Morocco and the well known Wheeler Shale Formation at affordable prices with our authenticity guarantee.
Trilobite Time Period and Extinction
The first trilobites show up in the fossil record early in the Cambrian Period about 540 million years ago. Trilobites were on the vanguard of the "Cambrian Explosion", a time when many animals had hard body parts that could fossilize. They rapidly diversified through the Ordovician Period and were abundant. However something happened during the Ordovician Period that was not good for the trilobite. It may have been a change in the earth's climate like an ice age. Whatever it was many species of trilobites became extinct later in the Ordovician. Their numbers continued to decline during the Paleozoic Era. They finally went extinct during the Great Dying of the Permian Extinction.
Trilobite Body Parts
Trilobites get their name from the 3 lobes of their bodies from side to side. There were also 3 sections to their bodies from front to back, the head or cephalon, the body or thorax, and the tail called the pygidium. The thorax had flexible sections that allowed trilobites to curl up into a ball to protect their bellies like a sow bug.
Trilobite Size
Some trilobites were very small. Perisphinctus for example only grew to about 5 mm or 1/4 inch. The largest species is called Isotelus rex. This large arthropod could be 720 mm long, more than 2 feet. Most trilobites were 1 -2 inches long. Because they had exoskeletons they had to molt as they grew. In order to molt the outer shell protecting their bodies split at the front of the cephalon and the trilobite crawled out. It took some time for the new skin to harden. A typical trilobite might molt 20 times or more during their lifetime. Especialliy during the Devonian, the trilobite fossil showed complex spines.
The Trilobite Family
There have been more than 25 thousand species of trilobites described divided into the following 12 orders:
Agnostida
Redlichiida
Corynexochida
odontopleurida
Lichida
Phacopida
Proetida
Ptychopariida
Harpetida
Trinucleida
Asaphida
Nektaspida
Trilobites were so diverse that there were species filling every niche in the ecosystem of the Paleozoic Era. They were predators, scavengers, and filter feeders. They crawled, burrowed, swam freely and well prepared specimen have been found all over the world. You'd be surprised at some of the trilobite facts.
