Coming
from the nearly half billion year old Middle Ordovician Asery
Level
deposits of the Wolchow River region near Saint Petersburg, Russia,
this is an example of the exceedingly rare Odontopleurid Apianurus
kuckersianus. The genus was formerly assigned as Acidaspis, another
quite bizarre creature, but the current name was given to similar
material in 1968. This one has the marvellous Devonian trilobites
Koneprusia, Dicranurus, and Ceratonurus as relatives, but far
outclasses
them all. The trilobite itself is 3.0 inches long (including the
pleural spines) and 2.5 inches wide at the genal spines. Notice
the many tubercules present on the the cephalon, thorax, and
pygidium.
The species name is derived from the Kuckers region of Estonia,
where fragmentary remains have been found.
|