This may bring my winter asaphid purchases to their conclusion for the season as it is time to collect from more than just the postal formation! And I may as well end it with a proverbial bang. This whopper of a bug is Asaphus raniceps, clocking in at about 100mm. You can make out some minor restoration, which is fairly standard. . This googly-eyed monster is the intermediate species between Asaphus punctatus and A. kowalewskii: Asaphus intermedius. Okay, not the most creative and inspired example of binomial nomenclature, but it underlines the point that this is indeed an intermediate species. These sky-high peduncles were a response to increasing turbidity in the Iapetus Ocean. Their entire bodies would be buried in the sediment with only the eyes showing - ideal for hiding and predation. This is a rubbish shot and arrangement, but I'll be organizing this properly later. I just wanted to show off the collection of these Russian googly-eyed asaphids. Absolutely beautiful, and I am quite proud of how I managed to collect so many... Although they were not cheap!
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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