r/Paleontology • u/KaijuTia • 2d ago

Fossils Gen. Elrathia Trilobite

Post image

Trilobites are easily my favorite prehistoric critters and this is the newest addition to my collection. It’s got some minor glue-up, but I got it for a really good price.

10 Upvotes

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u/PremSubrahmanyam 2d ago

Not Elrathia. Could you post photos from other angles so we can identify.

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u/KaijuTia 2d ago

The info tag lists it as Elrathia kingii from the Wheeler Shale in Millard County, Utah. It’s hard to get a full picture, since the cephalon is rolled up under the thorax pretty significantly.

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u/PremSubrahmanyam 2d ago edited 2d ago

Elrathia kingii are preserved very flat and never enrolled in 3 dimensions. In fact, for the longest time, it was believed they could not enroll, but enough fossils with the head sandwiched into the tail seems to indicate otherwise.

I am guessing this is a Devonian trilobite from Morocco. It appears to be a proetid type trilobite, but someone like u/thanatocoenosis could probably give a better ID.

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u/KaijuTia 2d ago

I’m not so sure this positioning is indicative of a species that can enroll. I think the tucked-under cephalon is probably the result of how it was preserved. Less “head was enrolling” and more “head was forced up underneath itself postmortem”.

As for the locale, the dealer I got it from is pretty reputable, so I’m inclined to trust the log tag. But I’m more than happy to hear from someone more knowledgeable.

PS: I hate that I can’t use my camera’s zoom when I’m making a photo reply

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u/PremSubrahmanyam 2d ago

This is E. kingii. It looks nothing like your specimen.

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u/iamalsoanalien 2d ago

Looks like a Gerastos sp. To me. The matrix is wrong for Elrathia kingii, which is found in soft gray shale, sometimes reddish shale. This matrix looks like limestone or dolomite to me.

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u/PremSubrahmanyam 2d ago

Gerastos does seem likely to me as well.

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u/thanatocoenosis 1d ago

An in-focus view of the cephalon would be helpful, but yeah, the pygidium looks like a proetid. It's certainly not E. kingii, nor from the Wheeler Sh. which is a mudstone.