SPINY ANTEDILUVIAN TRILOBITE! carved in natural tagua nut vegetable ivory!

Description

the SPINY ANTEDILUVIAN TRILOBITE!!!
A detailed carving in tagua nut natural vegetable ivory, it has great natural color.
Trilobites
(
meaning "three lobes") are a group of
extinct
marine
artiopodan
arthropods
that form the
class
Trilobita
. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the
Atdabanian
stage
of the
Early Cambrian
period
(
521
million years ago
), and they flourished throughout the lower
Paleozoic
before slipping into a long decline, when, during the
Devonian
, all trilobite orders except the
Proetida
died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in
the mass extinction
at the end of the
Permian
about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 300 million years.
Vegetable ivory
or
tagua nut
is a product made from the very hard white
endosperm
of the seeds of certain
palm trees
. Vegetable ivory is named for its resemblance to
animal ivory
. Species in the genus
Phytelephas
(literally "elephant plant"), native to
South America
, are the most important sources of vegetable ivory. The seeds of the
Caroline ivory-nut palm
from the
Caroline Islands
,
natangura palm
from
Solomon Islands
and
Vanuatu
,
and the
real fan palm
, from
Sub-Saharan Africa
, are also used to produce vegetable ivory.
This piece was entirely hand carved using high quality rotary Fordem tools and carbon dental burrs .
Dimensions of this nice carving: 2 inches long by 1 1/4 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches tall.
You will love this trilobite. Guaranteed!