1.75" Rare Ceratonurus Trilobite With Kainops - Black Cat Mountain

Rare Ceratonurus Trilobite With Kainops - Black Cat Mountain #104038

This is fantastic association of a rare, spiny Ceratonurus trilobite along with a Kainops from the famous Black Cat Mountain Quarry in Oklahoma. Typically only 2-3 good Ceratonurus are found in an entire digging season there, so getting one in close association with another trilobite is a really rare find.

The Ceratonurus is 1.75" long which is on the larger side for the species and laid out nice and prone. It has been nicely prepared using air abrasives under microscope and the horns are free-standing. The Kainops is 1.35" long and almost touching it. The s light, caramel colored shell contrasts well with the limestone matrix that it is centered on.

The Black Cat Mountain Quarry produces a limited number of arguably the most beautiful trilobites in the United States each year. Each specimen is meticulously prepared by quarry owner Bob Carroll under microscope to expose the smallest details. This is a very time consuming process, taking many hours, but yields spectacular results.

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.

More About Trilobites