Acrothyra

Acrothyra is an extinct genus of gregarious brachiopod that lived during the Middle Cambrian. Fossils of this genera can be found in Canada in formations such as the Burgess Shale and the Forteau Formation.

Acrothyra

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
AcrotretoideaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Acrotretida
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Acrotretida
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Acrotretida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Lingulata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 516 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 521 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 43 of 43 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 43 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences520–519 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences519–518 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences518–517 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences517–516 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 2 occurrences515–513 Mya — about 2 occurrences513–512 Mya — about 2 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 2 occurrences511–510 Mya — about 2 occurrences510–509 Mya — about 6 occurrences509–507 Mya — about 6 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 6 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 5 occurrences505–504 Mya — about 1 occurrence504–503 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences503–502 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences502–500 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences500–499 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences499–498 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences497–496 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences496–494 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences494–493 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences493–492 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences492–491 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences491–490 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences490–489 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences489–487 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences516 Mya497 Mya521.7 Mya486.2 Mya

43 occurrences of Acrothyra 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

43 occurrences

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

8 formations

Burgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.03°N, 115.83°WBurgess Shale — 51.39°N, 116.43°WWades Lane — 45.08°N, 66.75°WForteau — 49.52°N, 57.82°WLower Comley — 52.56°N, 2.76°WLower Comley — 52.58°N, 2.67°WLangston — 42.19°N, 112.25°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WPreble — 38.87°N, 117.92°WPioche — 37.88°N, 114.60°W

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The named rock units Acrothyra has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Acrothyra and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Acrothyra and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

340 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 38 sites for Acrothyra, 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

12 references

Each of the 43 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. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Acrothyra

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

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 itAcrotretoidea through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Mathew 1901