New Species Ceratarges aff aries Trilobite

Description: This trilobite is a member of the Order Lichida, Family Lichidae from the Devonian deposits of of Ofaten, Morocco known as a member of the genus Ceratarges. When first I saw this one I thought it was the related species C. koumalii until I noticed the small occipital spine pair. Ceratarges koumalii only has a pair of “bumps”. That makes this one more likely Ceratarges aries which was assigned a species name a few years ago the source of which is derived from the fact that the spines of the head are reminiscent of a ram. The spine pair is less pronounced in this specimen than in other, larger examples, but that may just reflect the fact that this is a younger specimen only about a third the size of others I have seen. It is the rarest of the three newly-described Ceratarges. Indeed, it only represented some 5 percent of the specimens found at the type locality. The dramatic cephalic spines have been prepared freestanding. It is an excellent example of the taxon with numerous bizarre features. See my other offerings for yet other members of the genus, Ceratarges ziregensis (link to 15142 here) and Ceratrges koumalii.

Reference: Geologica Belgica (2011) 14, 3/4, pp 193-202.