Hyolithid

Ordovician

Fezouata Formation

Mecissi-Zagora Region, Draa Valley, Morocco

17mm hyolithid on 61mm matrix.

Hyolithids are shelled invertebrates of uncertain classification though the latest research places them perhaps related to brachiopods.  They reached their greatest abundance and diversity during the Cambrian but suffered greatly during the mass extinction at the end of that period.  The group went into decline but still managed to survive into the Permian before becoming extinct.

At the Draa Valley site, specimens may have soft parts preserved.