Two, Orange Foulonia Trilobites - Fezouata Formation

This is a pair of Foulonia trilobites from the Fezouata Formation of Morocco. The piece is well prepared with the trilobites brought out in high relief against the surrounding shale. The orange coloration is natural, and due to the oxidization of iron pyrite which originally preserved the fossils.

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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