Trilobite fossil. Fossil of the trilobite Crotalocephalus gibbus. This trilobite lived from the Lower Ordovician to the Upper Devonian period (around

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Trilobite fossil. Fossil of the trilobite Crotalocephalus gibbus. This trilobite lived from the Lower Ordovician to the Upper Devonian period (around 505-374 million years ago). The trilobites are an extinct group of marine arthropods with a hard, segmented shell that is divided into 3 sections. In C. gibbus the segments of the shell were tipped with a row of spines. Most trilobites were bottom dwellers, feeding on organic sediment on the ocean floor or by catching their own prey. Many could roll themselves into a ball when threatened, thereby ensuring that only the shell was exposed to attackers.

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Size: 4911px × 3602px
Photo credit: © SINCLAIR STAMMERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ancient, animal, animals, arthropodan, crotalocephalus, devonian, extinct, fossil, fossilised, fossils, geology, gibbus, invertebrate, invertebrates, marine, ordovician, palaeontology, paleontology, preserved, rock, shell, single, solitary, spikes, spiky, spines, spiny, stone, trilobite, zoology