Name: Apianurus
kuckersianus
Age: Middle
Ordovician
Size: mm
(25.4mm=1 inch): 3 inches long, 2.5 inches wide; The matrix itself is
5.5 inches long, 5.2 inches across, and up to 3.2 inches thick, making
a suitable throne for this Emperor of Trilobites.
Location:
Lower
Ordovician Wolhovian Level deposits of the Wolchow River region near Saint
Petersburg, Russia
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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, a trilobite almost NO ONE has ever seen (to my knowledge,
the ONLY other complete example EVER FOUND resides in the world's
most extensive private collection). 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.
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