.95" Cyphaspides Trilobite - Jorf, Morocco

This is a scarce Devonian trilobite from Jorf, Morocco. There have been a limited number of these trilobites on the market over the past few years and this is one of the better ones I've seen. The light, glass-like shell preservation of the trilobites at this Jorf locality is very distinctive.

It would be a little over an inch long if fully outstretch and features a bulbous and granulosely textured head, small stalk eyes and elegant spines. I did the finishing preparation work on this specimen. There is a repaired crack, but there has been no restoration work done. This species was just described in Sept, 2019 in the paper linked below.

Species of the Devonian aulacopleurid trilobite Cyphaspides from southeastern Morocco

Trilobites are collected from a 15-meter-thick section about 6kilometers northwest of Jorf, Morocco. Unlike many other localities, these rocks do not have distinct deposition layers, but rather are massive. They likely represent a gigantic "mud mound" that formed at the base of a volcanic island due to mud slides. The rock is very silicified, almost like a chert, and can be quite colorful. The actual shells on the trilobites are translucent: the trilobite tends to be the color of the rock it sits on.

Because the rock contains a large amount of silica, it is extremely hard, and preparing trilobites from the site is difficult since the rock does not separate well from the shell. Within the 15-meter section, only about two meters have been heavily collected, so occasionally this site will produce some extremely rare and one-of-a-kind specimens collected in float from the other layers.

A view of the collecting locality northwest of Jorf, Morocco
A view of the collecting locality northwest of Jorf, Morocco

Collecting trilobites at the Jorf locality in 2015
Collecting trilobites at the Jorf locality in 2015
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DETAILS
SPECIES
Cyphaspides pankowskiorum
LOCATION
Jorf, Morocco
FORMATION
Bou Tchrafine Formation
SIZE
.95" long
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#2165
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