Agassizodus

Agassizodus is an extinct genus of eugeneodont holocephalian fish that lived during the Carboniferous Period. It belongs to the family Helicoprionidae, which is sometimes called Agassizodontidae. Like other members of its family, it possessed a symphyseal tooth whorl, which was likely present at the tip of the lower jaw and associated with lateral crushing tooth plates. The type species, A. variabilis, was originally named Lophodus variabilis until the name "Lophodus" was determined to be preoccupied.

Agassizodus

Jonathan Chen · 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
HelicoprionidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes

Time the record covers

At least 52 million years on record.

The record covers at least 307 Mya to 254.14 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 323.4 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 5 of 10 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 5 of 10 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 10 occurrences325–322 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences322–320 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences320–317 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences317–315 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences315–312 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences312–310 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences310–307 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 2 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 1 occurrence303–300 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences298–295 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences293–290 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences258–255 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences253–250 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences307 Mya254.14 Mya325 Mya250 Mya

10 occurrences of Agassizodus on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

10 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

6 formations

Grenola — 38.95°N, 96.40°WHueco — 32.37°N, 106.88°WPhosphoria — 43.35°N, 109.40°WIchinotani — 36.22°N, 137.51°EAltamont — 40.66°N, 96.66°WDalong — 32.62°N, 105.85°E

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The named rock units Agassizodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Agassizodus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Agassizodus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

85 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Agassizodus, 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

7 references

Each of the 10 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 content2

Picture of Agassizodus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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

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 itHelicoprionidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. St. John and Worthen 1875