Devonian trilobites from the Ardennes

Abandoned Quarry la Lesse at Resteigne (Belgium), witch contains the remains of the small tropical Rhenohercynian Ocean.

Over 500 million years ago they lived in the seas, nearly 300 million years long.

They are called the trilobites, hard-shelled, segmented arthropods, one of the earliest complex life forms on this planet.

In the Devonian (416-359 million years ago) life for the trilobites remains tough, some increased there armour dramatically.

At the end there number of taxa drastically diminished.

Jemelle Formation Vierves sur Virion

Jemelle Formation Vireux-Molhain

The Somnium

Carboniferous trilobites from Tournai (Belgium)

Carboniferous limestone, witch contains the remains of the small and closing Rhenohercynian Ocean.

By the the Carboniferous (359 million years ago) the only surviving trilobite Order was Proetida.

The number of taxa again fall dramatically after the Mid-Carboniferous, and at the end of the Permian (251 million years ago) they where extinct.

Carboniferous plant fossils from Mons (Belgium)

Terril material.

During the Carboniferous (359-299 million years) forest and swamps covered vast extensions of land, land-plants evolved in increasing numbers.

Swamps and forests found cover and food for many enormous scorpions, centripedes, dragonflies, cockroaches and grasshoppers.

Note:

The Namurian (326.5-315 million years) and Westphalian (315-306.5 million years) are regional European stages.

The Namurian overlaps with the Mississipian Subsystem and the Pennsylvanian Subsystem of the Carboniferous Period.