Bumpy, Partially Enrolled Drotops Trilobite - 4.2" Long

Bumpy, Partially Enrolled Drotops Trilobite - Long #100105

This is a partially enrolled specimen of the large phacopid trilobite Drotops megalomanicus. It's 2.65 wide and would be around 4.3" long if outstretched. It has been completely removed from the surrounding limestone and all of the surface detail including the bumps covering it's head and tail and many eye facets can easily be seen. The right side of is weathered and there is some restoration of weathered shell the top of the axis, and some small crack fills in the tail and cheeks.

One of the most striking features of this trilobites is the large schizochroal (multi-faceted) eyes which would have given it a nearly 360 degree field of vision. It also has a very bumpy exoskeleton, in particularly on it's head.

A photo of the Drotops quarry at Issoumour, Morocco showing the hard limestone layers being worked.

A photo of the Drotops quarry at Issoumour, Morocco. The quarry following the horizon where this trilobites are found extends several kilometers around the mountain.

How a Drotops might be found in the field, with part of the tail exposed in the broken rock. It would then be prepared using airscribes and air abrasives a process that would likely take 20+ hours for a good specimen..

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