Phaetonellus planicauda Moroccan Trilobite

Description: Superb specimen of a member of the Order Proetida with many fine details present. At first glance, it looks much like Cornuproetus, a relatively common trilobite. The most diagnostic features of that taxon are a granulose cephalon and thorax and the swept-back genal spines. Look more closely, however, and you will notice the spines emanating from the pygidium as well as the axial spines. Once termed Decoroproetus in the trade, it is actually Phaetonellus, and is rarely offered for sale. The Proetidae were among the last of the trilobites to go extinct in the Permian over 100 million years later. Note the axial spines, a feature that sometimes is not preserved. See my other offerings for a more affordable Phaetonellus specimen, as well as one with the genals prepared free of matrix.