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Exceptional Quality: Ogmasaphus

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Typical ordovician erratic as found - from the outside there is no fossil visible

Typical ordovician erratic as found
- from the outside there is no fossil visible

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Cross-sections reveal the hidden trilobite:
you can see the Cephalon, right librigena and some pleuraes here

Cross-sections reveal the hidden trilobite:
you can see the Cephalon, right librigena
and some pleuraes here

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The cross-section shows the pygidium

The cross-section shows the pygidium

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All pieces were glued back together so the trilobite could be prepared step by step

All pieces were glued back together so the
trilobite could be prepared step by step

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The result after the tedious preparation work was done

The result after the tedious preparation work was done

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From my good friend  Stefan Polkowksy I received a very promising unprepared trilobite from an erratic of northern Germany for preparation.  Fully complete and well preserved trilobites are very rarely found in erratics. So this piece was an exceptional find , which accordingly needed to be prepared very carefully and with a lot of attention to detail. 

Due to the half enrolled postion of the trilobite it was possible to create an intriguing final result. The closely lined up pleurea were treated especially careful and their tips are freestanding in a fan-like fashion.

Fossil: Ogmasaphus praetextus (TÖRNQUIST, 1884)

Locality: Coast near Rerik (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)

Formation: Upper Ordovician, ludibundus-limestone

Width of the cephalon: 4.2 cm

Work required: 18 hours

The trilobite and its preparation were published in the Steinkern magazine, issue 35 in 2018:

FREITAG, P. (2018): Ogmasaphus praetextus aus einem Ludibunduskalk-Geschiebe von Rerik, in: DER STEINKERN, Heft 35, S. 19-26. Link zum Heft: https://www.steinkern.de/inhaltsangaben/1277-heft35.html