AN EXQUISITE AMERICAN TRILOBITE. ...

Description

AN EXQUISITE AMERICAN TRILOBITE
Arctinurus boltoni
Middle Silurian
Rochester Shale Formation
Middleport, New York
Trilobites are an extinct variety of Arthropod and were the dominant multi-celled organisms on Earth for the first 200 million years of the evolutionary faunal explosion that occurred at the end of the Precambrian time span. In the Precambrian, complex life as we know it did not exist. It is believed that 99.9% of the fauna was comprised of just very simple single-celled organisms during this time span which runs from the formation of our planet at about 4.4 billion years ago up until about 600 million years ago. Arthropods (from the Greek for "joint-feet") today are comprised of the crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, insects, spiders, scorpions, centipedes and millipedes. Arctinurus is the undisputed "King" of all North American trilobites. Nothing else found so far in the fossil record of this continent, indeed even the entire Western Hemisphere, can even come close to the exotic look and exceptionally pleasing aesthetics of Arctinurus. It is found in only one location in the world, near Buffalo, New York. It is characterized by a unique "bat wing" appearance on the posterior lateral segments and a very ornate "Stealth Bomber" shaped head, or cephalon, with gorgeous, multi-faceted, eyes. The entire body surface is covered with small bumps that may have held sensory whiskers, much like a cat, but which gives Arctinurus an overall pustolose (pimply) surface texture. The combination of these structural features gives Arctinurus a unique and unmistakable appearance possessed by no other trilobite genus in the world. Only a few dozen specimens of this extremely rare genus/species are found per year and in 2008 the Arctinurus quarry will be closed for good making it quite difficult to obtain great specimens such as the present.
This specimen is one of the very best and is exceptional in every way from its large size to the exquisite detail and high relief, three-dimensional character. Expert, professional cleaning and preparation was done to free this trilobite from its rocky tomb, and only about 5% of the specimen has been restored. It measures 6 inches in length by 4 1/2 inches wide on a trimmed matrix base 7 ¼ X 8 1/4 inches.

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