Fossil Trilobite - Austerops

A rare reddish hued trilobite fossil from the Jorf area, Errachidia Province, Morocco. This variety of trilobite called Austerops sp. lived during the Devonian period approximately 400 million years ago. The unique color is a result of iron-inclusions in the rock, which gave the trilobite a red hue not often seen in trilobite specimens from this location.  Trilobites first appeared in the fossil record in the early Cambrian period approximately 520 million years ago. Most trilobites went extinct at the end of the Devonian period during a massive extinction event, which may have been related to low oxygen in the oceans which killed off many other forms of sea life including coral reef builders, most trilobites and brachiopods. Trilobites went fully extinct sometime in the Permian period approx. 250 million years ago. With a nearly 300 million year geologic run, the diversity and variation in species will certainly keep any collector busy! Even the earliest trilobites had complex, compou