Some Interesting Facts And Information On Trilobite Fossils

Posted by james luthor on February 21st, 2020

The trilobite is an exceptional fossil that belonged to a group of marine arthropods who are believed to have existed approximately 500 million years ago until they got annihilated 250 million years ago. It is believed that trilobites originated in the area currently known as Siberia. They spread across many other regions in the world from this location. Some of these locations are in the United States, Morocco, and Spain. The earliest trilobites are believed to be Ptychoparlid Bigotinids and Redlichiids. trilobites used to have a variety of lifestyle habits. Some of them were extremely good predators on sea beds, while others were scavengers, and there were few types that used to swim and feed on plankton. The largest known trilobite fossil that has been discovered by researchers was 28 inches in length and the shortest known one came under a millimeter in length.

Here are some interesting facts and information on trilobite that you may have not heard before.

20,000 plus species are currently known

Every single continent has some form of trilobite remains. The biggest species is the Isotelus Rex was about 28 inches long as we mentioned previously. Some were equipped with defensive spines, while others had rounded and smooth shells. There were also few that came with unevenly large eyes, and few of the species were completely blind.

Many would transform into little balls for shield

if these creatures smelled some kind of danger in the environment, they would form balls similar to underwater pill bugs. Specimens going as far as the Cambrian have been found in this defensive position.

Trilobite fossils are actually molted exoskeletons

In its entire lifetime, a trilobite outgrew different forms of shell. During the molting process, these discarded outer covering would often get preserved for the future generation of people. A single trilobite could potentially leave behind numerous trilobite-shaped fossils. Specimens that depict the actual creature unlike its shuffled-off shell are quite rare to find.

They were wiped out by the biggest extinction in the history

Some fossil enthusiasts refer to it as the “Great Dying.” This occurred nearly 250 million years ago, where 90 percent of all the existing species on earth at that time suddenly perished. Probable causes include a massive amount of volcanic activity to exploding supernovas. Since more than 90 percent living creatures got decimated, along with trilobites, insects, sharks and armored-fish, and mammal-like creatures.

We hope you found this article useful and also informative. If you are interested to buy trilobite fossil, there are numerous online sites selling them.

Author: The author is a blogger and the article is about trilobite fossil.