Primitive echinoderm - Stylophora!!! - Fossilised animal - Cothurnocystis elizae (Bather, 1913) - 13 cm - 9 cm

Spectacular plate with two complete specimens of Cothurnocystis, a primitive and enigmatic echinoderm that lived during the Ordovician. The Cothurnocystis animal had a flat body shaped like a boot and a slender appendage resembling a rod, which could be a stalk or something analogous to a foot or a tail.
The plates contain 2 complete specimens and remains of 2 others. Specimens with this preservation are extremely rare. The contrast between the fossils and the matrix is spectacular. The extraordinary preservation of the fossils allows for detailed observation of the delicate structures of Cothurnocystis. There is a plate and a counterplate. A specimen worthy of a museum.

Plastic supports included.

Matrix 1 measurements: 157 g; 13 x 9 x 0.8 cm
Matrix size 2: 87 g; 9 x 6.5 x 0.6 cm

The Fezouata formation sites, near the Moroccan city of Zagora, are providing a rich and diverse record of fossils with extraordinary preservation, often including soft tissues or soft-bodied animals. This type of preservation is similar, although later in time, to that of the famous Burgess Shale site (Canada).

These are fossils dating from between 480 and 472 million years ago. At that time, Morocco was an ocean and was located over the South Pole.