Trilobites belong to a group of arthropods which include millipedes, spiders, lobsters, and became extinct some 250 million years ago. For as much as 300 million years, this creature with three separate body sections crawled on our ocean floors, where it thrived and survived. In this blog, we’ll be taking a look at some of the unknown facts about this extinct arthropod. Let’s get started.
- You’ll be surprised to know that around 20,000 species of trilobites have been discovered throughout the planet. All continents have discovered remains of this arthropod. Of these remains, the biggest one was found to be of about 28 inches and the smallest one was less than a millimeter
- Some of the trilobites had the ability to curl up into a ball. They did this whenever they felt threatened to protect themselves. They flexed their rear end under their head and sort of appeared like underwater pill bugs
- Trilobites baffled scientists for quite a long time as they were unable to identify or categorize it. Edward Lhuyd, a Welsh naturalist, in a 1679 letter mistook the remains of trilobite as the skeleton of flatfish. One person who first came closest to identifying this creature was Bishop Charles Lyttelton in 1750 when he referred to the remains of trilobites as a ‘petrified insect’
- Trilobite is the official fossil of 3 states. In the year 1985, Ohio was the first state to go with the whole Isotelus genus, and following it was Wisconsin that chose the Calymene celebra. In 1988, Pennsylvania followed and went with Phacops rana
- These arthropods were hunters who tracked down aquatic worms and devoured them alive. It has been hypothesized that perhaps other species of trilobite evolved to start consuming plankton or algae, where some employed the filter-feeding mechanism
- Around 250 million years ago, as much as 90 percent of the earth’s species met their demise. This period is referred to as the Great Dying, which, it is believed, was brought about by different causes such as increased volcanic activity, exploding surpernovas, etc. A countless number of mammal-like creatures, insects, fish, and organisms were killed. Trilobites, too, bid adieu to planet Earth in this period
As you can see, there are so many complex and interesting things to know about trilobites. Their fossils are rather famous among fossil collectors because of their ornate features. If you’re interested, you can get fossils of trilobite for sale on Buried Treasure Fossils at affordable prices.
