Cheirolepidiaceae

Cheirolepidiaceae is an extinct family of conifers in the pine order, Pinales. They first appeared in the Triassic, and were a diverse and common group of conifers during most of the Mesozoic era, primarily at low latitudes, where they often formed a dominant element of the vegetation. They are united by the possession of a distinctive pollen type assigned to the form genus Classopollis The name Frenelopsidaceae or "frenelopsids" has been used for a group of Cheirolepidiaceae with jointed stems, thick internode cuticles, sheathing leaf bases and reduced free leaf tips. The leaf morphology has been noted as being similar to that of halophyte Salicornia. Several members of the family appear to have been adapted for semi-arid and coastal settings, with a high tolerance of saline conditions. Cheirolepidiaceae disappeared from most regions of the world during the Cenomanian-Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous, but reappeared in South America during the Maastrichtian, the final stage of the Cretaceous, increasing in abundance after the K-Pg extinction and being a prominent part of the regional flora during the Paleocene, before going extinct. Survival into the Paleocene in North America and China has also been suggested based on pollen. However recent studies suggest those records, or some of them, are in reality reworked specimens from Cretaceous facies.

Cheirolepidiaceae

Lutz Kunzmann, Barbara A. R. Mohr, Mary E. C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira & Volker Wilde · CC BY 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
PinidaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 203 million years on record.

The record covers at least 251.902 Mya to 48.07 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 259.857 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Permian — about 1 of 1074 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 1074 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 1074 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 14 of 1074 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 36 of 1074 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 26 of 1074 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 87 of 1074 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 518 of 1074 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 295 of 1074 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 90 of 1074 occurrencesEocene — about 6 of 1074 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 1074 occurrencesMiocene — about 0 of 1074 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 1074 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 1074 occurrences265–256 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences256–247 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences247–238 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences238–230 Mya — about 3 occurrences230–221 Mya — about 3 occurrences221–212 Mya — about 2 occurrences212–203 Mya — about 5 occurrences203–194 Mya — about 16 occurrences194–186 Mya — about 7 occurrences186–177 Mya — about 12 occurrences177–168 Mya — about 12 occurrences168–159 Mya — about 28 occurrences159–150 Mya — about 45 occurrences150–141 Mya — about 33 occurrences141–133 Mya — about 13 occurrences133–124 Mya — about 38 occurrences124–115 Mya — about 148 occurrences115–106 Mya — about 231 occurrences106–97 Mya — about 183 occurrences97–88 Mya — about 113 occurrences88–80 Mya — about 8 occurrences80–71 Mya — about 21 occurrences71–62 Mya — about 118 occurrences62–53 Mya — about 29 occurrences53–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–36 Mya — about 3 occurrences36–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–243 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences251.902 Mya48.07 Mya265 Mya243 ka

1,074 occurrences of Cheirolepidiaceae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

1,074 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

150 formations

Riachuelo — 10.65°S, 37.04°WBima — 12.08°N, 13.14°EAgua Doce — 3.69°S, 44.56°WFort Union — 46.32°N, 103.85°WFort Union — 46.02°N, 103.76°WFort Union — 46.48°N, 105.67°WFort Union — 44.71°N, 106.17°WFort Union — 44.83°N, 106.09°WFort Union — 44.88°N, 106.06°WFort Union — 46.60°N, 105.68°WFort Union — 45.59°N, 105.68°WMuribeca — 10.65°S, 37.04°WBurg El-Arab — 30.99°N, 27.77°EAbu Roash — 30.99°N, 27.77°EAbu Roash — 30.00°N, 28.00°EAbu Roash — 29.00°N, 29.00°EBathurst Island — 11.79°S, 130.23°EBathurst Island — 11.78°S, 130.35°EAllen — 38.78°S, 67.93°WAllen — 38.77°S, 68.01°WApollonian — 4.98°N, 3.02°WAbu Gabra — 11.03°N, 27.74°EOcal — 2.62°N, 75.53°WQueimadas — 3.69°S, 44.56°WPreguicas — 3.69°S, 44.56°WTalme Yafe — 31.65°N, 34.61°EBentiu — 11.03°N, 27.74°EBentiu — 9.35°N, 29.13°EPatapsco — 37.30°N, 77.29°WPatapsco — 37.26°N, 77.37°WChorrillo — 50.51°S, 72.56°WPedro Luro — 38.89°S, 62.10°WPedro Luro — 38.81°S, 62.19°WPedro Luro — 39.50°S, 62.68°WPedro Luro — 38.90°S, 62.53°WLefipán — 42.67°S, 69.83°WLa Colonia — 43.10°S, 67.75°WLa Colonia — 42.52°S, 66.84°WLa Colonia — 43.01°S, 67.62°WLa Colonia — 42.50°S, 66.50°WLa Colonia — 43.02°S, 67.66°WLa Colonia — 42.97°S, 67.54°WMonte Chico — 51.59°S, 72.41°WMonte Chico — 51.18°S, 72.29°WBantou — 27.80°N, 118.00°EBantou — 26.00°N, 117.40°EBantou — 26.30°N, 116.70°E

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The named rock units Cheirolepidiaceae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 126 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 191 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cheirolepidiaceae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Cheirolepidiaceae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

1,162 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 628 sites for Cheirolepidiaceae, 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

165 references

Each of the 1,074 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. 153 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 Cheirolepidiaceae

Credit
Lutz Kunzmann, Barbara A. R. Mohr, Mary E. C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira & Volker Wilde
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itPinidae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Turutanova-Ketova 1963