Isotelus Maximus Trilobite Replica

$91.00

Isotelus Maximus, genus of trilobites (extinct arthropods) restricted to Europe and North America during the Ordovician Period (about 488 million to 444 million years ago).

Description

Isotelus Maximus Trilobite Replica measures 11.5×10 in. Isotelus Maximus Trilobite Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Our precise plant fossils can be used as a teaching tool for Paleobotany, museum exhibits, home décor or office décor.

Trilobites were any member of a group of extinct fossil arthropods easily recognized by their distinctive three-lobed, three-segmented form. Trilobites, exclusively marine animals, first appeared at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about 542 million years ago, when they dominated the seas.

From head to tail fossil measures 9 inches, width rib to rib is 6 1/4 inches. Plaque size measures 11.5 inches head to tail, width 10 inches.

Isotelus Maximus is a genus of asaphid trilobites from the middle and upper Ordovician period, fairly common in the Northeastern United States, northwest Manitoba, southwestern Quebec and southeastern Ontario. One species, Isotelus rex, is currently the world’s largest trilobite ever found as a complete fossil.

A specimen of Isotelus rex, from Churchill, Manitoba, is the largest complete trilobite ever found. Discovered by Dave Rudkin in 1999, it measures 28 in. in length, 16 in. in maximum width (across the cephalon) and 3 in. in maximum height (at the posterior midpoint of the cephalon).

Isotelus Maximus, genus of trilobites (extinct arthropods) restricted to Europe and North America during the Ordovician Period (about 488 million to 444 million years ago). They were relatively large and was characterized by its distinctive flat shape.

The head and the tail were well developed and large relative to the whole animal. The number of thoracic segments was small, and the eyes were large and crescentic in shape. They are extinct marine arthropods. They first appear in Lower Cambrian rocks and the entire group went extinct at the end of the Permian.

Trilobites had a calcitic exoskeleton and non-mineralizing parts underneath (legs, gills, gut, etc.). The calcite skeleton is most commonly preserved in the fossil record, although soft part preservation is known in some trilobites (Ex: Burgess Shale and Hunsruck Slate).

Trilobites had a head (cephalon), a body of many segments (thorax), and a tail (pygidium). Molts and carcasses usually fell apart quickly – most fossils are isolated parts of the head (cranidium and free cheeks), individual thoracic segments, or isolated pygidia.

The official state fossil of Ohio is the Isotelus Maximus , which attained impressively large sizes (up to 15 inches for complete Ohio specimens). Two species of are known in the Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky Upper Ordovician outcrop belt: Isotelus maximus Locke, 1838 and Isotelus gigas Dekay, 1824.

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Additional information

Weight 5 lbs
Dimensions 11.5 × 10 in
Isotelus Maximus Trilobite Facts

Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: †Trilobita
Order: †Asaphida
Family: †Asaphidae
Genus: †Isotelus
Conservation Status: Extinct