Archaeocyatha

Archaeocyatha is a taxon of extinct, sessile, reef-building marine sponges that lived in warm tropical and subtropical waters during the Cambrian Period. It is thought that the centre of the Archaeocyatha origin is now located in East Siberia, where they are first known from the beginning of the Tommotian Age of the Cambrian, 525 million years ago (mya). In other regions of the world, they appeared much later, during the Atdabanian, and quickly diversified into over a hundred families. They became the planet's first reef-building animals and are an index fossil for the Lower Cambrian worldwide.

Archaeocyatha

Stanton F. Fink · CC BY 2.5 · 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
Also called
archaeocyath spongePBDB
Sits inside
PoriferaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Porifera

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 509.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 497 Mya.

Cambrian — about 4652 of 4655 occurrencesCambrian638–633 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences633–628 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences628–623 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences623–619 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences619–614 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences614–609 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences609–604 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences604–599 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences599–595 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences595–590 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences590–585 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences585–580 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences580–576 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences576–571 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences571–566 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences566–561 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences561–556 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences556–552 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences552–547 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences547–542 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences542–537 Mya — about 1 occurrence537–533 Mya — about 4 occurrences533–528 Mya — about 4 occurrences528–523 Mya — about 228 occurrences523–518 Mya — about 1587 occurrences518–513 Mya — about 2089 occurrences513–509 Mya — about 711 occurrences509–504 Mya — about 27 occurrences504–499 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences499–494 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences538.8 Mya509.7 Mya638 Mya494 Mya

4,655 occurrences of Archaeocyatha 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

4,655 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

107 formations

Usa — 56.00°N, 88.00°EUsa — 54.00°N, 90.75°EUsa — 54.23°N, 90.82°EPestrotsvet — 66.40°N, 112.28°EPestrotsvet — 57.35°N, 131.20°EPestrotsvet — 60.70°N, 124.72°EPestrotsvet — 60.82°N, 125.00°EPestrotsvet — 60.92°N, 125.77°EPestrotsvet — 60.83°N, 125.40°EPestrotsvet — 58.50°N, 129.50°EPestrotsvet — 57.42°N, 132.55°EPestrotsvet — 61.02°N, 126.15°EPestrotsvet — 61.03°N, 126.13°EPestrotsvet — 58.75°N, 128.00°EPestrotsvet — 60.83°N, 125.33°EPestrotsvet — 71.83°N, 107.00°EPestrotsvet — 61.07°N, 126.18°EPestrotsvet — 61.29°N, 135.50°EUpper Monok — 52.83°N, 90.25°EUpper Monok — 52.25°N, 89.03°EUpper Monok — 52.83°N, 90.43°EUpper Monok — 52.40°N, 89.07°EUpper Monok — 52.45°N, 89.10°EAmouslek — 30.38°N, 8.68°WAmouslek — 30.38°N, 8.80°WAmouslek — 30.18°N, 9.03°WSalaany Gol — 46.87°N, 95.80°ESalaany Gol — 47.15°N, 96.90°EUpper Shangan — 51.40°N, 94.23°EMatoppa — 39.27°N, 8.47°EMatoppa — 39.18°N, 8.55°EMatoppa — 39.35°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.40°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.37°N, 8.52°EBalakhtison — 53.77°N, 93.48°EBalakhtison — 54.60°N, 91.35°ETorgashino — 55.97°N, 92.92°EIl'chir — 51.88°N, 94.42°EAjax Limestone — 30.58°S, 138.32°EAjax Limestone — 30.60°S, 138.35°ESekwi — 59.27°N, 129.18°WSekwi — 63.55°N, 129.25°WSekwi — 63.75°N, 128.80°WSekwi — 63.73°N, 129.05°WKotuy — 68.53°N, 105.23°EKotuy — 68.57°N, 105.23°EKotuy — 68.68°N, 105.03°EKotuy — 69.02°N, 103.85°EBazaikha — 55.97°N, 92.92°EPuerto Blanco — 30.42°N, 111.93°WPuerto Blanco — 30.42°N, 111.97°WPuerto Blanco — 30.27°N, 112.03°WPuerto Blanco — 30.70°N, 112.27°WXiannudong — 32.50°N, 108.50°EXiannudong — 32.47°N, 107.23°EXiannudong — 32.60°N, 106.48°ETyuser — 71.57°N, 127.37°ETyuser — 71.52°N, 127.37°ETyuser — 71.07°N, 127.43°ETyuser — 71.00°N, 127.65°ETyuser — 71.03°N, 127.48°EOi-Muran Reef Massif — 61.07°N, 126.18°EUst'kundat — 56.00°N, 88.00°EDmitriyevskaya — 44.50°N, 132.63°EWilkawillina Limestone — 31.27°S, 138.88°EPoleta — 37.72°N, 117.23°WPoleta — 37.42°N, 117.47°WPoleta — 37.82°N, 117.78°WPoleta — 37.87°N, 117.87°WPoleta — 37.26°N, 118.16°WPoleta — 37.38°N, 117.27°WPoleta — 37.30°N, 118.14°WPoleta — 37.76°N, 117.61°WPoleta — 37.41°N, 117.56°WKrasnoporog — 67.22°N, 87.03°EKrasnoporog — 67.14°N, 86.75°EIrbitey — 50.95°N, 92.83°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Archaeocyatha has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 83 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 225 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Archaeocyatha and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Archaeocyatha and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

745 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 174 sites for Archaeocyatha, and this reads 174 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

115 references

Each of the 4,655 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. 103 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 Archaeocyatha

Credit
Stanton F. Fink
Licence
CC BY 2.5
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 itPorifera through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Vologdin 1937)