Middle Devonian Period- C. 400 Million Years Ago

Order to which the fossil belongs: Lichida
Name of which the family belongs: Odontopleuridae
Informal name of the fossil: Trilobite

This Dicranurus Monstrosus has a spectacular defensive array of spines and other impressive features like the occipital spines, which look like ram’s horns.

Trilobites are a fossil group of extinct marine arachnomorph arthropods that form the class Trilobite, one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The name originates from their division into three longitudinal lobes, consisting of a raised central lobe also known as the axis, with two slightly flatter pleural lobes either side. Trilobites also have a head shield known as the cephalon, and on the axial region of the head shield (glabella) they were cheeks either side and well-developed eyes. The thorax consists of up to thirty segments, each would have had a limb but these are rarely preserved. A trilobite would have probably roll up their external skeletons to protect themselves in defence.

Some restoration otherwise a nice example on a stone matrix with good definition.

Matrix: 132mm x 177mm approx
Dicranurus: 65mm x 82mm