What fossil group is trilobite?

The animal. Like many invertebrate animals living today, including crustaceans, spiders and insects, trilobites were arthropods, belonging to the phylum Arthropoda. Geologists know that they were marine animals because of the rocks in which they are found and the other types of fossils associated with them.

How do you identify a trilobite fossil?

trilobite, any member of a group of extinct fossil arthropods easily recognized by their distinctive three-lobed, three-segmented form. Trilobites, exclusively marine animals, first appeared at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about 542 million years ago, when they dominated the seas.

What do trilobite fossils indicate?

Trilobites have been important in estimating the rate of speciation during the period known as the Cambrian explosion because they are the most diverse group of metazoans known from the fossil record of the early Cambrian.

What is a trilobite index fossil?

Trilobite fossils are found worldwide, with many thousands of known species. Because they evolved rapidly, and moulted like other arthropods, trilobites serve as excellent index fossils, enabling geologists to date the age of the rocks in which they are found.

What is a trilobite related to?

Trilobites are an important group of extinct arthropods. Their bodies were divided into three segments: the head, body and tail. Although they looked like woodlice, and could roll into balls for protection, trilobites were more closely related to spiders and scorpions.

Are trilobite fossils rare?

Complete trilobite skeletons are relatively rare, and were probably preserved when the sea floor was buried by mud during major storms.

Why are trilobite fossils unusual?

While appendages in trilobites are not unknown, they are often not well-preserved. Unlike the trilobite exoskeleton, they are not reinforced with calcium carbonate which makes fossilisation less common.

Why are they called trilobites?

The term Trilobite literally means “Three Lobes.” The name references the animal’s body plan. All Trilobites have three lobes, a left pleural lobe, Axial lobe, and a right pleural lobe.

Can fossils have gold in them?

This looks awfully like pyrite. But you can get gold in fossils – I have seen it in contact metamorphosed shelly fossils near intrusions at Cygnet, Tasmania, where the calcite has been replaced with skarn assemblages and sulphides, and can contain significant but fine grained gold.