Chancelloriidae

The Chancelloriids are an extinct family of superficially sponge-like animals common in sediments from the Early Cambrian to the early Late Cambrian. Many of these fossils consists only of spines and other fragments, and it is not certain that they belong to the same type of organism. Other specimens appear to be more complete and to represent sessile, radially symmetrical hollow bag-like organisms with a soft skin armored with star-shaped calcareous sclerites from which radiate sharp spines.

Chancelloriidae

Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania · CC BY 2.0 · 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
ChancelloriidaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Coeloscleritophora

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 530.7 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 627 of 627 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 627 occurrences540–538 Mya — about 1 occurrence538–536 Mya — about 3 occurrences536–534 Mya — about 3 occurrences534–533 Mya — about 3 occurrences533–531 Mya — about 3 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 10 occurrences529–527 Mya — about 11 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 11 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 24 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 24 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 41 occurrences520–518 Mya — about 61 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 61 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 89 occurrences515–513 Mya — about 97 occurrences513–511 Mya — about 62 occurrences511–509 Mya — about 39 occurrences509–507 Mya — about 26 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 19 occurrences506–504 Mya — about 12 occurrences504–502 Mya — about 7 occurrences502–500 Mya — about 7 occurrences500–498 Mya — about 6 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 5 occurrences497–495 Mya — about 1 occurrence495–493 Mya — about 1 occurrence493–491 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences491–489 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences530.7 Mya497 Mya540 Mya486 Mya

627 occurrences of Chancelloriidae 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

627 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

101 formations

Parara — 35.13°S, 137.43°EParara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EParara — 34.06°S, 138.02°EParara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EParara — 34.80°S, 137.69°EParara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EDengying — 33.00°N, 107.92°EDengying — 30.73°N, 111.13°EDengying — 30.77°N, 111.12°EDengying — 32.53°N, 107.92°EDengying — 33.67°N, 109.46°EXinji — 33.27°N, 112.98°EXinji — 34.53°N, 110.87°EXinji — 34.90°N, 106.85°EAjax Limestone — 30.59°S, 138.33°EWirrealpa Limestone — 31.33°S, 138.87°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.03°N, 115.83°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WPestrotsvet — 57.67°N, 131.83°EPestrotsvet — 57.17°N, 132.00°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 — 58.75°N, 128.00°EPestrotsvet — 58.75°N, 127.00°EPestrotsvet — 71.50°N, 105.00°EPestrotsvet — 57.40°N, 132.73°EPestrotsvet — 58.85°N, 130.60°ESellick Hill — 35.37°S, 138.38°EBastion — 74.10°N, 23.00°WBastion — 73.52°N, 24.68°WBastion — 72.85°N, 25.03°WBastion — 74.35°N, 22.77°WKulpara — 34.92°S, 137.80°EKulpara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EKulpara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EZhujiaqing — 26.28°N, 103.22°EZhujiaqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°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 — 43.60°N, 69.33°EShabakty — 43.68°N, 69.68°EShabakty — 43.60°N, 69.45°EPuerto Blanco — 30.42°N, 111.93°WShiyantou — 27.93°N, 103.56°EZhujianqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°EKulpara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 111.59°WWheeler Shale — 39.20°N, 113.30°WWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 113.28°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WForteau — 49.60°N, 57.83°WForteau — 49.52°N, 57.71°WForteau — 51.47°N, 56.84°WEmigrant — 37.80°N, 117.60°WEmigrant — 37.71°N, 117.45°WEmigrant — 37.91°N, 117.87°WYuanshan — 24.81°N, 102.58°EYuanshan — 24.84°N, 102.41°EYuanshan — 25.68°N, 102.17°EKrasnoporog — 67.22°N, 87.03°EKrasnoporog — 67.14°N, 86.75°EShuijingtuo — 32.53°N, 107.92°EShuijingtuo — 32.49°N, 107.12°EShuijingtuo — 30.50°N, 111.16°ELáncara — 42.90°N, 5.17°W

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The named rock units Chancelloriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 77 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chancelloriidae and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Chancelloriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

1,167 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 303 sites for Chancelloriidae, and this reads 240 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

106 references

Each of the 627 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. 94 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 content1

Picture of Chancelloriidae

Credit
Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itChancelloriida through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Walcott 1920