Specifications
Descrizione
Locality: Ma’der el Kebir, Foum Zguid, Morocco
Age: Lower Devonian
Geological Age: 400 mya
Species: Paralejurus
Description: Paralejurus was a trilobite built for digging. Its smooth, strongly domed shell and wide central axis suggest it lived partly buried in the sea floor, much as some older trilobites called illaenids did. Scientists see these shared features as a matching lifestyle, not a close family tie.
The genus was named by Hawle and Corda in 1847. It first appears in the Pragian stage of the Early Devonian, about 410 million years ago, and the last ones vanish at the start of the Middle Devonian. At first Paralejurus lived only along the northern margin of Gondwana, which included what is now Morocco. Later in the Emsian, as ocean barriers narrowed, one group spread to the shores of Laurussia.
Paralejurus could roll up tightly for defence. Fully enrolled adults from southern Morocco show interlocking grooves and sockets along the shell edges, and later Moroccan forms evolved an ever-tighter seal. Several species come from the Maïder region of the Anti-Atlas, and new ones were still being described in 2004.
This piece shows the classic smooth, rounded Paralejurus outline in matrix.
In crystal traditions, trilobite fossils are associated with endurance and deep time.
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual fossil in the photograph. We do what we can to buy good quality products and price them honestly. The fossils may differ from the photos, but we hope we do them justice.