Species: Declivolithus titan.
Location: lower Katoua formation, Tafilalt, Morocco.
Age: late Ordovician @ 500 million years old,

An example of an unusual trilobite from the late Ordovician of Morocco. The distinctive ornamentation resembles a crown on the head shield displaying pitting or crenulations. Although the purpose of this ornamentation is, of course, unknown, thought is to have sensory adaptations or aid in the filter-feeding function. The natural orange color is due to the oxidation of iron pyrite in the soil.

Trilobites are a fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita  They feature the following significant attributes:

• Trilobites form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods.
• The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record are from the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago).
• They were hard-shelled, segmented creatures that lived in Earth's ancient seas.
• They are considered to be one of our planet's earliest complex life-forms and are one of the essential signature creatures of the Paleozoic Era.
• Trilobites went extinct before dinosaurs ever existed.
• Trilobites were the first creatures with a skeleton (Exoskeleton), so they were easily fossilized.
• Their shell is divided lengthwise into three lobes (hence, the name TRILOBITE meaning three-lobed): a central axial lobe, and two symmetrical pleural lobes that flank the axis.

Morphologically, the trilobite body is divided into three major sections:

• cephalon (or head) with eyes, mouthparts, and sensory organs such as antennae.
• a middle region called the thorax with several overlapping segments(anywhere from 2 to 61)
• pygidium (or tail section) in which the segments

This specimen measures 5” x 5” on matrix