Trilobite of All Species
by Sam Gon III

 

Artwork is copyright © Sam Gon III

"Few efforts have been made to understand trilobites as successfully as those that lead to the creation of A Guide to the Orders of Trilobites, an immense and evolving online archive of information gathered together and synthesized by Sam Gon III.

To augment his understanding of modern biodiversity, he sought to learn more about biodiversity in ancient times. His ongoing work to understand all he could about trilobites' biology, morphology and orders created a resource referenced and enjoyed by many.

In order to clarify the sometimes confusing images in photographs, illustrations have been helpful to biologists and paleontologists seeking to understand structural relationships and differences among organisms. Careful observation and interpretation of ambiguous morphological aspects of biological attributes is essential to our comprehension of organisms' physicality.

For this purpose, Sam has created detailed images of many trilobite species. These drawings can aid our understanding, but also allow us to appreciate the extreme beauty and variety exhibited by trilobites. When faced with these images, it's difficult to imagine that our world's oceans were once filled with creatures of such alien designs for so many millions of years, but they were. Many of these drawings have been posted online in a photo archive. Take some time and look closely at the amazing diversity and mind-boggling morphology of the vanished trilobites."

--From Andrew Scott's Triloblog