Thursday, December 10, 2009

Phacops Trilobite Molts

This post shows some of the Phacops rana (Green, 1832) trilobite molts I have found over the last year. These fossilized remains were found in Clark County, Indiana or Jefferson County, Kentucky. While not museum grade finds and none are intact enrolled trilobites, they are still nice finds. The trilobite fossils most likely are from the Jeffersonville Limestone layer of the Devonian Period.  If you are a fossil collector in the United States of America, this trilobite is always nice to find.  Some of the best looking Phacops (Emmrich, 1839) trilobites are found in the Silica Shale in Ohio as opposed to these limestone fossils.

This trilobite is most interesting because of the lens of its compound eye.



Enrolled Phacops trilobite thorax pieces
 

Close up of two enrolled Phacops thorax pieces
 

Two fossils that need to have some matrix removed from the thorax segments



A selection of Phacops trilobite cephalon pieces

Close up of one of the cephalons