With its long narrow eye stalks this is the most famous of the Asaphus triliobites. But it didn't come out of nowhere. From the plain A. lepidurus to the frog eyed A. cornutus to A. punctatus with its stubby medium length eye stalks to A. intermedius with its longer eye stalks, as well as other stalk eyed Asaphus trilobites not in my collection, this trilobite had plenty of precursors. In all cases the point of having the eyes on stalks was to allow the trilobite to stay buried in the mud while being able to see prey coming close enough to grab, and no doubt,to see potential predators to avoid as well.
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