View the Virtual Reality Trilobite Dalmanites myops 370 Kb
Trilobites are extinct arthropods from the Palaeozoic Era, that lived in prehistoric oceans between 540 to 245 million years ago. Their closest living relative is the horseshoe crab.
Bryozoans are colonies made from many individual microscopic animals that are common in the seas both today and in the past.
Trilobites are the earliest arthropods and are the first known fossils with eyes. Their hard outside skeleton, or exoskeleton, is divided into 3 lobes lengthways - hence the name.
Trilobites can also be divided into 3 parts widthways; a head (cephalon) often with eyes, the body (thorax) consisting of articulated segments, and a tail (pygidium). Their legs, which are rarely preserved, lay underneath. Many trilobites were capable of rolling up in a ball, probably for protection. Like all arthropods the hard outer skeleton meant that trilobites periodically moulted in order to grow bigger.
There are 3 virtual fossils for you to view (these files are quite large and may take sometime to load):
View the Virtual Reality Trilobite Dalmanites myops 370 Kb
View the Virtual Reality Trilobite Calymene blumenbachii 610 Kb
View the Virtual Reality Bryozoan Archimedes 380 Kb
