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Sorry this report is late, but I wanted to wait until prep was complete as I always show unprepped finds lol. Back in May, Laura and I made an impromptu trip to Grant County Wisconsin for some trilobite action. We had spent nearly five hours hunting with only partials and some hash plates uncovered. I decided to sit in the middle of the site and take a break and let Laura search. Being bored, I started to pick up pieces of rock and brush off the dirt and broken pieces of matrix. To my utter shock, I brushed off some dirt and saw a cephalon emerge, with what looked like thoracic segments. I finished brushing off the dirt and was in shock. My first complete Ceraurus mifflinensis (Demott1987). I was not prepared at all and my wife said I sounded like a five year old opening every Christmas present I've ever wanted. Well here she is, Gabi in all her beauty. It was truely amazing to be the first human to see such a magnificent creature. Prep was completed by David Comfort July 1st. Thank you @piranha for connecting me with the world renowned prep master. Now prepped

I recently purchased a 6x5" piece of shale from an auction of an old geological/fossil collection. This contained 5 trilobites of the same species but no info on where it came from. It wasn't much money, but would love some assistance in trying to ID the species. I've no idea of the location or age sadly as there was literally no info that came with it (although I purchased a few other North American trilobites in the same auction). The 5 trilobites range in size from 1" to 1.5". Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I've this nice Moroccan trilobite. The seller did not know what genus or species it was. I have an inkling that it is Scabriscutellum, though could be wrong. Can the genus or species be pinpointed? Thank you! Jojo

Simple question is this trilobite real partially real or completely fake I understand much of large Cambrian trilobites are completely fake and have no actual genuine fossil remains in them I would like to be informed of which category this "fossil" falls into thanks in advance. (I'm expecting all the replies to be fake if it is completely fake with no fossil remains at all I ask for advice on what to look for next time I know most of the common signs only after the purchase of the "fossil" but before I completely give up the idea of a genuine fossil I figured some more experienced people could look at it again thanks in advance.

On a recent trip up to Little Falls, I somehow managed to spot this little guy while going through some scraps of shale. It isn't excellently preserved or anything and it's only an impression of a cephalon but what surprised me was the size of it. It's less than 4 millimeters wide and that's stretching it. It's certainly the smallest Triarthrus I've seen. Sorry for the poor quality, this is as good as I can get through a microscope.

These two trilobites were in a piece of Whitby shale, I haven't seen anything like the two; in any of the lots of the same rock I've had More pics 2 more pics

I got back last week from a two week collecting trip in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming with my wife and our two friends Bill and Jean. In addition to collecting, sunstones, topaz, agates and fluorescent minerals we collected Cambrian,Silurian, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Eocene fossils. We collected trilobites outside Delta, Utah and Liberty, Idaho, Marine fossils in Emigration and Riley Canyons in Utah and fossil fish in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The results of the trip was 15 boxes shipped home and many hours of preparation ahead of me. My friends came away with 13 boxes of fossils. If anyone wants tips for successful shipping of fossils please PM me as I learned a lot shipping with both USPS and UPS. Perhaps a post about shipping might be valuable. Photots from the trip will be posted at the end. Our first fossil excursion was to U-Dig quarry. Within ten minutes of arriving my friend Bill found a beautiful Asaphiscus wheeleri molt. That was the start to a great day of collecting. By the end of the day my wife and I had a table covered with trimmed examples of all of the common trilobites. The highlights were Bill's Asaphiscus, a huge 2 inch Asaphiscus I found, two brown trilobites and a 1 3/4 Asiphicus my wife found in the discard pile as we were getting ready to leave. We left with four flat rate boxes in total. After collecting in the Delta area for fossils and minerals we went back to our condo in Park City, Utah and visited Emigration Canyon for Jurassic marine fossils in Salt Lake and Riley Canyon, near Jericho, Utah. We found some brachiopods in Emigration Canyon but the fossils were not abundant. Our next stop was Riley Canyon for agatized horn coral. After a hike that resulted in a 3000 foot elevation change from 6000 to 9000 feet we eventually found the horn coral site. It wasn't what I expected. The searching involved looking for loose rock on the mountain among vegetation. While we found pieces of red agate, the agatized horn coral was elusive until my friend Bill found a nive 3 inch horn coral. We continued to search the area with little luck. By the time we left I found one small agatized horn coral and several chuncks. I did find one fossil that was mostly buried in matrix. At the time I thought it was a horn coral but imagine my surprise when I started prepping it and found that it was a large brachiopod. I do want to say that Riley Canyon material is one of the hardest materials I've ever prepped. The matrix is very stick and doesn't want to release from the fossil. It is also extremely difficult to remove with micro-abraision. Our next excursion was to Spence Gulch outside of Liberty, Idaho for Cambrian fossils. Fortunately I had read many different directions to this locality, otherwise we wouldn't have found it. It was a solid miles walk from where we had to abandon our rental vehicle. My wife and I found the matrix at the site to be very similar in consistency and friability to Spring Creek material in Alden, New York. You definitely want to bring cyanoacrylate (super glue) or some other stabilization agent as well as foil to wrap your fossils in so that they dry slowly. Otherwise your prized fossil may be dust by the end of the day. As soon as we arrived at the site I found what looks like a partial Zacanthoides trilobite. By the end of the day our party had found three partials. Bill and I started the morning climbing the slope and excavating pieces where someone had exposed a flat section of rock outcropping. We were rewarded with trilobite pieces and a few hyoliths. We then moved to the base of the outcrop and started splitting small pieces of shale. By the end of the day we found about 20 complete Achlysopsis (at least that's what I think they are). By the end of the day we had a good representation of the Spence Shale. Our last fossil excursion was to Forum member Sseth's fish quarry in Kemmerer, Wyoming. I want to start off by saying that the people working at his quarry are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They were very friendly and always checking in to see if we were having a successful trip. If you ever make it to Kemmerer to collect I have the following pieces of advice. Visit Fossil Butte National Monument Visitors Center first so you know what things look like. Bring boxes and packing material. Bring lots of water. Four people can drink a case of water by early afternoon. Bring sunscreen. Be ready for the dust. You will be covered in dust as will the interior of your rental vehicle or personal vehicle. We had such a good time at Sseth's quarry we actually went back a week later for another day of collecting. We had a lot of fun at his quarry. We came away with many individual fish and several plates of multiples. Most of the fish were larger than three inches and we came away with at least five different species of fish. Our largest fish were a 10 inch Diplomystus my wife and I extracted from a very large rock and an 8 inch Phareodus my friend Bill found in the discard pile splitting discarded rock. While we were there Sseth was excavating a turtle and while excavating it they found a second one. Photos will follow.

This is #8 and #9. Both were in the same split of shale. The larger one was barely visible, just 1/2 of the fwd center ridge. Took quite a bit of digging to expose it. I was pretty sure what it was, getting used to the little clues. Thanks again !

Beginning to recognize more of the minor details. A small portion of the eye was protruding from the surface a fresh split. A bit of scratching under the microscope revealed my favorite so far. I call it #7. OK, ...... I'm hooked ! Thanks again folks.

Found #6 last night. Only a small portion was exposed, I scratched the matrix away to expose the rest. I wish I had learned earlier what to look for more specifically. I am certain that I have overlooked more of what I am looking for than what I have found. Thanks again to all for you guidance, experience and willingness to contribute. Kindest regards.

Well... after being away big move, etc..... I'm back !!! - I was opening a couple rocks I got awhile back and came across this one, my question is, should I just leave it as is, or would I be better to try and expose more of what's on both sides ? ....... I'm just now starting to prep, so I'm by no means an expert & honestly; a bit nervous to ruin things. If someone could circle what is what - I'd appreciate it alot !! ( the end of the tail is where the rock ended, I didn't hack it off !! ) more pics ( same rock )

Upon seeing the very nice recent posts by WhodamanHD, I was prompted to revisit my rock-pile stash and crack a few. Does this look like a trilobite ? If it is, the eye is a bit different than WhodamanHD's find. This one would be a bit larger than the others found here too .... if it actually is one. Thanks for looking. ...more.

Is this what it appears to be??? LOL

Today a visitor found what marks the third Pseudodechenella rowi found at Penn Dixie this season. It's a gorgeous example to boot, only missing a chunk of the lateral border on the cephalon and a bit of the genal spine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't very jealous that I haven't been one of the three people to have found one. What's more impressive is that this guy came out of the piles we've been going over since May and it took this long to find!

I was prepping out a shell (it may seem stupid but I don't trust myself with other things) in a piece of matrix given to me by @Rocky Stoner (thx for the stones!) and this little dotted piece caught my eye. Could it be a frag of a trilobite, or is it the usual suspects. I am btw not referring to the obvious bryozoan, but the shiny piece with four holes.

I think I see here a partial Ormathops sp. and partial Echinodermata. And maybe there is something more. This comes from a from the remains of a water hole near Alnif and can help to direct new searches. The coin as 2,3 cm = 0,9 inches diameter Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, Miguel

Hello again. I would like to know/confirm the ID's of these specimens. Best wishes to all the members of the Forum. Miguel a) Hamatolenus vicenti?

This is ridiculous. Ive been trying to upload my pictures for over an hour. This site will not upload. Anyone care to take a look through another media?

I got to hunt on the trilobite ridge for a very short time, thanks to @GordonC for letting me know it existed and Jeff from this site for the directions and other tips. I had a very short time to hunt, but it was productive. I've got lot of spiriferids and other goodies, but best of all the first thing I saw, as if placed by divine intervention, a trilobite pygidium! This is the first real trilo I've found, although I find an extremely small piece of one in Maryland, so this is why I'm very excited even for a fragment. Any one know the species? I know it could do with some prep, but it's to delicate for me to attempt. If any pros want to prep it for me extremely cheaply, pm me. I can get more pictures if needed.

Mucronaspis sp. or Mucronaspis zagoraensis? Thanks in advance Miguel

Hello all, got this really interesting trilobite in from one of my sources that was unattributed. Any ideas? Also, is there a good source of information on how to attribute Moroccan trilobites? Thank you!

Before I start my story I have to explain something. My wife has been on me about going fossilhunting at Deep Springs so much. She is complaining that I am burning up to much gas on all these trips. So today I told a fib about going fishing at a local stream instead. After I got home I talked to @Ropterus on the phone and when I started to tell him about my morning my wife happened to come out to where I was so I had to give him a different story. So Scott when you read this post this explains why. Anyways I got to Deep Springs about 6:15 am within 15 mins I found another Dipleura thorax and pygidium. I dont know why I keep finding these without the cephalon, but hey I was happy none the less. I found a few poor quality cephalons and a couple Greenops which unfortunately split in the middle. This was another short trip, I left after two hours so I could get back home and spend the rest of my day with my family. This was a great start of a wonderful Fathers Day! The first pic was the Dipleura as found. The rest of the pics were after I got home and trimmed it up a bit.

A visitor brought this guy to my attention, and I don't know if it's just because it's an internal mold or if it's actually something different. But I figured I would put it out to the room. My gut tells me it's just a Bellacartwrightia whitely that's been flaked off and is therefore missing any type of pygidial spines, but the body is awfully round. My opinion is based off of the visible casts of the glabellar furrows and genal spines, but rather than Greenops, I went Bellacartwrightia based on the rounded shape of the pygidium rather than triangular. These pictures are all I have to go on as the specimen I believe is now somewhere in Georgia.

Hi, I have had this fossil for almost 12 years. This was my first ever fossil that I ever bought, but I never received a formal identification. What kind of trilobite do you think this is and where might it be from? I received this fossil at a Rutgers University (in NJ) rock and mineral show.