Bathyuriscus

Bathyuriscus is an extinct genus of Cambrian trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. The genus Bathyuriscus is endemic to the shallow seas that surrounded Laurentia. Its major characteristics are a large forward-reaching glabella, pointed pleurae or pleurae with very short spines, and a medium pygidium with well-impressed furrows. Complete specimens have never reached the size of 7 cm predicted by the largest pygidium found. Bathyuriscus is often found with the free cheeks shed, indicating a moulted exoskeleton. An average specimen will in addition have a furrowed glabella, crescent-shaped eyes, be semi-circular in overall body shape, have 7 to 9 thoracic segments, and a length of about 1.5 inches.

Bathyuriscus

Charles Doolittle Walcott · Public Domain · 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
DolichometopidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Corynexochida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Corynexochida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Corynexochida
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 509.7 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 515.3 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 72 of 72 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 72 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences515–514 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences514–513 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences513–512 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences511–510 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences510–509 Mya — about 3 occurrences509–508 Mya — about 5 occurrences508–507 Mya — about 10 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 11 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 11 occurrences505–504 Mya — about 6 occurrences504–503 Mya — about 3 occurrences503–502 Mya — about 3 occurrences502–501 Mya — about 3 occurrences501–500 Mya — about 4 occurrences500–499 Mya — about 4 occurrences499–498 Mya — about 3 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 3 occurrences497–496 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences496–495 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences495–494 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 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences488–487 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences509.7 Mya497 Mya515.9 Mya486.3 Mya

72 occurrences of Bathyuriscus 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

72 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

28 formations

Shallow Bay — 49.25°N, 65.57°WStephen — 52.83°N, 119.25°WStephen — 51.40°N, 116.48°WStephen — 51.17°N, 116.08°WStephen — 51.34°N, 116.37°WLead Bell Shale — 42.00°N, 112.00°WDuchesnay — 51.10°N, 115.95°WDuchesnay — 50.63°N, 115.60°WLangston — 42.19°N, 112.25°WWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 111.59°WWheeler Shale — 39.20°N, 113.30°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WMarjum — 39.00°N, 113.00°WMarjum — 39.27°N, 113.31°WMount Cap — 64.48°N, 126.79°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.31°WKinzers — 40.12°N, 76.30°WCathedral — 51.43°N, 116.33°WCathedral — 51.42°N, 116.45°WAktas — 43.53°N, 69.95°ECadiz — 34.54°N, 115.47°WCadiz — 34.59°N, 115.52°WHess River — 64.53°N, 129.77°WMeagher — 45.76°N, 111.73°WHatch Hill — 42.31°N, 73.77°WHenson Gletscher — 80.25°N, 62.50°WKap Stanton — 80.25°N, 62.50°WHillard Limestone — 64.95°N, 141.01°WWolsey — 48.44°N, 115.98°WPioche Shale — 40.00°N, 115.00°WParker Slate — 44.48°N, 73.21°WWheeler — 39.52°N, 113.00°WEl Gavilán — 29.28°N, 110.58°WBurgess Shale — 51.39°N, 116.43°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Bathyuriscus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bathyuriscus and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Bathyuriscus and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

485 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Bathyuriscus, 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

34 references

Each of the 72 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. 22 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 content3

Picture of Bathyuriscus

Credit
Charles Doolittle Walcott
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
bathyuriscus formosus · MST:PALEO:MST-SP-5116

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 itDolichometopidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Meek 1873