Cambroclavida

Cambroclaves are a group of enigmatic, phosphatized, hollow spine-shaped sclerites, known from their geographically widespread Early to Middle Cambrian fossils, which occur exclusively in shallow waters within the photic zone. They were probably originally aragonitic. They are lobate with long spines protruding centrally; these spines are in some cases pillar-like, constituted of a bundle rods with an Ionic-like appearance. Some taxa have been compared to spicules of ecdysozoan worms, whereas others likely belong to Protomelission-like organisms, which have been argued to be affiliated with the dasycladalean green algae and the bryozoans.

No picture of Cambroclavida was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Cambroclavida, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ProblematicaPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
slow-movingPBDB
Environment
outer shelf,eutrophic,marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 24 million years on record.

The record covers at least 530.7 Mya to 506.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 497 Mya.

Cambrian — about 199 of 199 occurrencesCambrian540–538 Mya — about 1 occurrence538–537 Mya — about 3 occurrences537–535 Mya — about 3 occurrences535–534 Mya — about 3 occurrences534–532 Mya — about 3 occurrences532–531 Mya — about 3 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 12 occurrences529–528 Mya — about 13 occurrences528–527 Mya — about 14 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 14 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 14 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 14 occurrences522–521 Mya — about 14 occurrences521–519 Mya — about 19 occurrences519–518 Mya — about 19 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 19 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 12 occurrences515–514 Mya — about 9 occurrences514–512 Mya — about 9 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 1 occurrence511–509 Mya — about 1 occurrence509–508 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences508–506 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences505–503 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences503–502 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences502–501 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences501–499 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences499–498 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences498–496 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences530.7 Mya506.5 Mya539.6 Mya496.2 Mya

199 occurrences of Cambroclavida 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

199 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

31 formations

Dengying — 33.50°N, 106.00°EDengying — 33.00°N, 107.92°EDengying — 32.94°N, 107.70°EDengying — 26.63°N, 105.85°EDengying — 28.27°N, 106.30°EDengying — 32.35°N, 106.82°EDengying — 32.53°N, 107.92°EDengying — 25.52°N, 103.07°EDengying — 24.72°N, 102.56°EDengying — 33.67°N, 109.46°EZhujiaqing — 24.67°N, 102.65°EZhujiaqing — 27.93°N, 103.56°EZhujiaqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°EZhujiaqing — 26.28°N, 103.22°EZhujiaqing — 25.52°N, 103.07°EZhujiaqing — 26.38°N, 103.21°EShabakty — 43.47°N, 69.87°EShabakty — 43.62°N, 69.73°EShabakty — 43.47°N, 69.97°EYurtus — 40.52°N, 79.05°EYurtus — 41.15°N, 80.25°EYurtus — 40.83°N, 79.67°EYurtus — 40.88°N, 79.47°EKuanchuanpu — 33.00°N, 106.17°EKuanchuanpu — 32.50°N, 106.92°EKuanchuanpu — 32.94°N, 106.23°EKuanchuanpu — 32.32°N, 106.79°EBeshtash — 42.17°N, 72.00°EParara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EParara — 34.80°S, 137.69°EParara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EZhujianqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°EAjax Limestone — 30.59°S, 138.33°EHetang — 28.74°N, 118.62°EXihaoping — 31.73°N, 110.73°EMaidiping — 29.53°N, 103.39°EXinji — 34.90°N, 106.85°EShuijingtuo — 30.80°N, 111.33°EShuijingtuo — 32.49°N, 107.12°EBastion — 74.10°N, 23.00°WBastion — 74.35°N, 22.77°WTaozichong — 29.01°N, 110.51°ETaozichong — 26.55°N, 106.47°EYangjiaping — 29.22°N, 110.85°EHuangshandong — 30.83°N, 111.17°ELancara — 42.84°N, 5.87°WLancara — 43.01°N, 6.01°WMarcou — 43.70°N, 3.01°EAndamooka Limestone — 30.12°S, 137.16°EFosters Point — 46.00°N, 60.00°WZwetau — 51.17°N, 15.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cambroclavida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cambroclavida and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Cambroclavida and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

491 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 120 sites for Cambroclavida, 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 199 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 content0

No picture of Cambroclavida was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Cambroclavida, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Cambroclavida was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itProblematica through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Conway Morris and Chen 1991