Acontheus
Acontheus is a genus of trilobites belonging to the family Corynexochidae, order Corynexochida, and is geographically widespread having been recorded from middle Cambrian strata in Sweden, Newfoundland, Germany, Siberia, Antarctica, Queensland, China and Wales.

Micktherocktapper · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Sits inside
- CorynexochidaePBDB
- Diet
- carnivorePBDB, for Corynexochida
- Life habit
- nektobenthicPBDB, for Corynexochida
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Corynexochida
- Environment
- marinePBDB, for Trilobita
Time the record covers
At most 7.5 million years on record.
Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 504.5 Mya and 497 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.
2 occurrences of Acontheus on record, most of them in the Cambrian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
2 occurrences- Cambrian100%
These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Found in
2 formations
- Menevia Formation · Porth-y-rhaw Group1
- Mariner Group Spurs Formation1
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The named rock units Acontheus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.
Acontheus and its relatives
CambrianWhere Acontheus and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.
Found in the same rock
33 taxa- Acidusus aculeatus1 site
- Acrotreta sagittalis1 site
- Agelagma1 site
- Agnostus artilimbatus1 site
- Centropleura1 site
- Centropleuridae1 site
- Conocoryphidae1 site
- Cotalagnostus lens1 site
- Diplagnostus1 site
- Eodiscus punctatus1 site
- Fuchouia1 site
- Goniagnostus nathorsti1 site
- Huzhuia1 site
- Hyolithes1 site
- Hypagnostus brevifrons1 site
- Lejopyge1 site
- Lejopyge armata1 site
- Lejopyge laevigatus1 site
- Leperditia1 site
- Maotunia1 site
- Meneviella venulosa1 site
- Onymagnostus hybridus1 site
- Pagetiidae1 site
- Peronopsis1 site
The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Acontheus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
2 references- A Cambrian Series 3 (Guzhangian) fauna with Centropleura from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica1
- Protocystites menevensis--a stem-group chordate (Cornuta) from the Middle Cambrian of South Wales1
Each of the 2 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.
Media and terms
Media content1
Picture of Acontheus
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Micktherocktapper
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
No 3D scan of Acontheus was found in Sketchfab.
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Source
- Wikipedia, “Acontheus”
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itCorynexochidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Angelin 1852