Description
A beautiful ventral 1 cm Olenellus terminatus from the Lower Cambrian Pyramid Shale, Lincoln County Nevada. This specimen is extremely well preserved with an incredibly mineralized hypostome (ventral mouth plate) locked in place, something rarely seen in Lower Cambrian trilobites. The development of spines on the hypostome in this species likely helped in processing food. The spinose adaptations were used for gripping, tearing, or crushing small prey, organic detritus, or microbial mats.
Olenellus terminatus would use its formidable cephalic appendages to hold food against the hypostome spines, while the spines then acted like a “rasp” to help manipulate larger items into smaller pieces while the trilobite fed.
Specimens from the Pyramid Shale differ considerably from the nearby Pioche Shale, both in preservation and slight species variations, hence the “cf.” designation on this specimen. The Pyramid Shale features more carbonate rich outer shelf environments, versus the Pioche which is typically siliciclastic shales and inner detritus belt lithology. Stunning one of a kind specimen!
Age: Lower Cambrian
Species Name: Olenellus cf. terminatus
Locality: Lincoln County, Nevada
Formation: Pyramid Shale
