fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 05:55AM
Kettneraspis williamsi Oklahoma Trilobite
(Order Lichida, Family Odontopleuridae)
Age: Lower Devonian
Size: mm (25.4mm=1 inch): 27 mm long by 32 mm wide on a 85 mm by 80 mm
matrix.
Location: Devonian Haragan Formation deposits of Coal County, Oklahoma
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Description: Well-preserved example of a member of the Order Lichida, Family
Odontopleuridae, with dramatically-displayed genal spines with minute subspines,
a feature not often preserved intact. One of the reasons for the fine
preservation is the fact that this trilobite was prepared by Bob Carroll, a
world-reknowed preparator of Oklahoma Devonian trilobites. Even the tiny nodes
of spines on the pleural lobes can be seen.
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 06:06AM
The Paleozoic is well-represented in Oklahoma, and the state boasts some of the
most spectacular trilobites in the US. These come from Lower Devonian formations
in Coal County, Oklahoma, located in the south-central region of the state. The
two primary Devonian formations are the Haragan and Bois d' Arc, with soft pale
limestone that yields beautiful caramel-colored trilobites resembling those from
the Saint Petersburg region of Russia. Over 30 different Devonian trilobite
species in about a dozen genera have been described.
The Devonian trilobites of Oklahoma are in many way similar to the trilobite
assemblage found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, due to proximal
paleogeography. While on continents separated by thousands of miles today,
during Devonian times, present-day Morocco was part of the northwestern
continental shelf of Gondwana, and present-day Oklahoma was part of the Southern
continental shelf of Euramerica. These locations were adjacent and at very
similar latitudes and likely bore nearly identical marine environments. The
comparable species likely share common ancestry and occupy the same or closely
related genera.
John_Stone Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 07:21AM
Thanks FD.
90130 Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 10:07AM
Amazing. Nice collection, F_D.
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 10:47AM
they are fucking disgusting
fossil_digger Report This Comment Date: December 31, 2005 11:30PM
imagine 1,000,000,000 of these little guys working over a dead pleisiosaur on
the ocean floor......cool