Actinoceras

Actinoceras is a genus of extinct cephalopod that lived from the middle Ordovician to the Early Silurian. It is the type genus of the Actinoceratidae, a family of nautiloids that thrived in the waters of North America and Eurasia during the Paleozoic era. The first and type species, A. bigsbyi, was named in 1835 in honour of John Jeremaiah Bigsby, based on remains discovered in the limestones of Lake Huron. Since then, more than 45 species, divided into at least six species groups, have been described from North America, parts of Baltic Europe, and Siberia.

Actinoceras

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
ActinoceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Actinocerida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Actinocerida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Actinocerida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 128 million years on record.

The record covers at least 468 Mya to 339.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 335.9 Mya.

Ordovician — about 111 of 117 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 4 of 117 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 0 of 117 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 2 of 117 occurrencesCarboniferous480–475 Mya — about 2 occurrences475–470 Mya — about 5 occurrences470–465 Mya — about 6 occurrences465–460 Mya — about 3 occurrences460–455 Mya — about 20 occurrences455–451 Mya — about 42 occurrences451–446 Mya — about 30 occurrences446–441 Mya — about 4 occurrences441–436 Mya — about 1 occurrence436–431 Mya — about 1 occurrence431–426 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences426–421 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences343–338 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences338–333 Mya — about 1 occurrence468 Mya339.9 Mya480 Mya333 Mya

117 occurrences of Actinoceras on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

117 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

49 formations

Xia Majiagou — 40.00°N, 118.00°EXia Majiagou — 39.00°N, 118.00°EXia Majiagou — 42.00°N, 126.00°EVaureal — 49.00°N, 64.00°WVaureal — 49.75°N, 63.50°WVaureal — 49.67°N, 62.92°WVaureal — 49.60°N, 62.83°WPlatteville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WMifflin — 43.00°N, 91.00°WQuimbys Mill — 43.00°N, 91.00°WAmadjuak — 63.72°N, 68.97°WAmadjuak — 65.25°N, 73.17°WTyrone Limestone — 37.82°N, 84.72°WTyrone Limestone — 37.83°N, 84.55°WFarr — 47.42°N, 79.48°WFarr — 47.46°N, 79.47°WFremont — 38.00°N, 105.00°WFremont — 38.50°N, 105.17°WGlenwood — 45.00°N, 93.00°WPecatonica — 43.00°N, 91.00°WGrand Detour — 43.00°N, 91.00°WNachusa — 43.00°N, 91.00°WMaJiaGou — 37.00°N, 118.00°EMaJiaGou — 42.00°N, 126.00°EBad Cache Rapids — 68.75°N, 81.63°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.38°N, 82.31°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.67°N, 81.90°WLourdes — 48.65°N, 58.90°WLourdes — 48.73°N, 58.82°WLourdes — 48.80°N, 58.78°WLowville — 45.37°N, 75.72°WSimard — 48.47°N, 71.08°WBigby-Cannon Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WSt. Peter Sandstone — 45.00°N, 93.00°WWise Lake — 43.00°N, 91.00°WShan MaJiaGou — 41.00°N, 123.00°EShan MaJiaGou — 35.00°N, 112.00°EEllis Bay — 49.83°N, 64.38°WEllis Bay — 49.45°N, 62.30°WBobcaygeon — 44.67°N, 78.80°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Actinoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 25 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Actinoceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Actinoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

889 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 90 sites for Actinoceras, 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

38 references

Each of the 117 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. 26 further references are not listed. 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 content2

Picture of Actinoceras

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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

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 itActinoceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bronn 1837