Portugal is full of surprises, the discovery of a unknown trilobite being the latest, as researchers at the University of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro confirm that an unprepossessing sample sent in for analysis is the oldest record of its type.
Aptly describing the discovery as 'historic,' the 455 million-year-old trilobite fossil was found in the Cabeço do Peão rock formation in the Macão municipality, Santarém.
The trilobite was offered to the Fernando Real Museum of Geology at the university whose curator gladly accepted this rarest of finds.
The identification was made by Sofia Pereira, a student completing her doctorate who said,
"The discovery is considered historic as it changes the whole perspective and knowledge of a genus whose origin occurred in a territory that, 450 million years later, would become Portugal."
The new trilobite, which is only 1cm long, matches the "oldest of its kind" record, according to Pereira.
"This fossil was found by amateur paleontologist Pierre-Marie Guy, who contacted the Geosciences Center team to have it identified. After experts looked at the submission they realised it was a new species of trilobite, an extinct animal which existed long before the first dinosaurs," said university researcher Artur Sá.
The name of the man who found it will live on, the little fossil has been classified as ‘Radnoria Guyi’ in recognition.
