Ethrathia Trilobite.JPG

Elrathia Trilobite fossil

Utah, USA
Middle Cambrian 501,000,000-530,000,000 million years
Elrathia is a genus of ptychopariid trilobite species that lived during the Middle Cambrian of Utah, and possibly British Columbia. E. kingii is one of the most common trilobite fossils in the USA locally found in extremely high concentrations within the Wheeler Formation in the U.S. state of Utah. E. kingii has been considered the most recognizable trilobite. Commercial quarries extract E. kingii in prolific numbers, with just one commercial collector estimating 1.5 million specimens extracted in a 20-year career. 1950 specimens of Elrathia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 3.7% of the community.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: †Trilobita
Order: †Ptychopariida
Family: †Alokistocaridae
Genus: †Elrathia