Balhuticaris voltae

Balhuticaris is a genus of extinct bivalved hymenocarine arthropod that lived in the Cambrian aged Burgess Shale in what is now British Columbia around 506 million years ago. This extremely multisegmented arthropod is the largest member of the group, and it was even one of the largest animals of the Cambrian, with individuals reaching lengths of 245 mm (9 in). Fossils of this animal suggests that gigantism occurred in more groups of Arthropoda than had been previously thought. It also presents the possibility that bivalved arthropods were very diverse, and filled in a lot of ecological niches.

Balhuticaris voltae

Qohelet12 · 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
BalhuticarisPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda

Time the record covers

At most 9.5 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 506.5 Mya and 497 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Cambrian — about 1 of 1 occurrenceCambrian507–506 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences506–506 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences506–506 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences505–505 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences505–505 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences505–504 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences504–504 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences504–504 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences504–503 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences503–503 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences503–502 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences502–502 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences502–502 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences502–501 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences501–501 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences501–501 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences501–500 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences500–500 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences500–500 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences500–499 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences499–499 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences499–499 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences499–498 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences498–498 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences498–498 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences497–497 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences507 Mya496.5 Mya

1 occurrence of Balhuticaris voltae 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

1 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

1 formation

Stephen — 51.17°N, 116.08°W

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

Balhuticaris voltae and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Balhuticaris voltae and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

41 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Balhuticaris voltae, 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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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 doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Balhuticaris voltae

Credit
Qohelet12
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Balhuticaris voltae 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

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 itBalhuticaris through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Izquierdo-López and Caron 2022