New Type Koneprusia Moroccan Trilobite

Description: Elegant example of an unusual trilobite which as an Odontopleurid has many fine relatives in Dicranurus, Leonaspis, and Ceratonurus. This one has a plethora of spines, most of which have been painstakingly prepared freestanding, making for a spectacular display piece. To what purpose could such a spiny armament be put? The answer DEFENSE cries out; with fish only recently (geologically speaking) having developed true jaws, any advantage a prey species could evolve would stand it in good stead in the eternal predator/prey arms race. At first glance this one would be dismissed as an example of the type known as Koneprusia brutoni were it not for the double spines at the anterior, a feature to date only known in K. dahmani which is best known from Foum Ziguid. That taxon has multiple subspines to the plural and pygidial spines. The examples from Oufaten either have them greatly reduced or missing entirely, but the auxiliary thoracic spines are quite evident. I will go with Koneprusia aff dahmani for the time being!

Also see Koneprusia brutoni, as well as a Koneprusia with paired axial ring spines and an unusual Koneprusia with double axial spine rows.