proetid trilobite
Proetus sp.
- Catalogue
- FA-0334
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Trilobita
- Order
- Proetida
- Family
- Proetidae
- Locality
- Yass district, New South Wales
- Unit
- not recorded
- Age
- Late Silurian (Ludlow–Přídolí)
427.4–419.2 Ma - Reference
- Wikipedia
A small, smooth-shelled trilobite with a rounded head shield and a semicircular tail. Proetids were the last trilobites standing: the order Proetida alone survived the Late Devonian extinctions and carried the group through to the end of the Permian, when the last trilobites disappeared.
Like all trilobites this animal grew by moulting, splitting its shell and walking out of it. Most trilobite fossils are those discarded moults rather than dead animals, which is why so many are found in pieces.
This specimen
The head shield is missing. That is usual rather than remarkable: most trilobite fossils are moulted shells, which came apart at the head as the animal backed out of them.
Also in this collection under the same name: FA-0318, FA-0303, FA-0309, FA-0315, FA-0321, FA-0324, FA-0327, FA-0340, FA-0346, FA-0361