Lutitas fosilíferas de Itauguá (mar del Silúrico)
Shales with trilobites, graptolites and brachiopods from a Silurian sea that covered the region about 440 million years ago.
What it is
In the Itauguá district, shales of the Vargas Peña Formation (Itacurubí Group) crop out holding a marine fauna of the Llandovery, in the early Silurian. Fossils include graptolites, trilobites, bivalves, gastropods, brachiopods and hyoliths. Several species were described from here and carry Paraguayan names, such as the trilobites Calymene harringtoni, Dalmanites ypacarayensis and Guaranites paraguayensis, the brachiopod Eocoelia paraguayensis and the hyolith Hyolithes guaraniensis.
It is one of the most fragile sites in the UNA geosite inventory: it suffers deterioration and loss of material, has no municipal protection, and the authors call for geoconservation strategies to keep it from disappearing.
How to visit
We know of no regular public visit. If you look for it, go with a guide or a team of geologists and never collect fossils: they are scientific heritage and are being lost.
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Researched and reviewed in September 2026 with 3 sources. A second reviewer checked dates, coordinates and lodging. Hours and prices may change.