Clypeaster

Clypeaster, common name "cake urchins" or "sea biscuits", is a genus of echinoderms belonging to the family Clypeasteridae.

Clypeaster

Frédéric Ducarme · 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
ClypeasteridaePBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB, for Clypeasteroida
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Clypeasteroida
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Clypeasteroida
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Echinoidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 3 of 293 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 51 of 293 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 181 of 293 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 45 of 293 occurrencesPleistocene — about 14 of 293 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 3 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 8 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 8 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 8 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 8 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 8 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 10 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 11 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 11 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 15 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 19 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 11 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 14 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 21 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 21 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 19 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 14 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 25 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 20 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 12 occurrences37.71 Mya129 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

293 occurrences of Clypeaster on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

293 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

64 formations

Tortonian Limestone — 35.00°N, 24.76°EImperial — 32.83°N, 116.04°WImperial — 33.41°N, 116.06°WImperial — 32.79°N, 116.05°WImperial — 32.86°N, 116.04°WSuwannee Limestone — 29.33°N, 83.14°WSuwannee Limestone — 28.90°N, 82.59°WSuwannee Limestone — 31.57°N, 83.85°WSuwannee Limestone — 30.05°N, 83.17°WSuwannee Limestone — 30.61°N, 83.67°WPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.87°N, 14.33°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.92°N, 14.38°EMoneague — 18.03°N, 77.45°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.20°WGurabo — 18.93°N, 71.62°WGurabo — 19.35°N, 70.72°WSeroe Domi — 12.14°N, 68.99°WSeroe Domi — 12.15°N, 68.99°WSeroe Domi — 12.29°N, 69.06°WMarianna Limestone — 31.63°N, 88.31°WMarianna Limestone — 31.71°N, 88.29°WMarianna Limestone — 30.77°N, 85.21°WPoivre — 20.75°S, 115.33°EPoivre — 20.67°S, 115.42°EPoivre — 20.75°S, 115.42°EPoivre — 20.85°S, 115.50°EMesón — 21.11°N, 97.69°WMesón — 22.07°N, 98.00°WMesón — 24.20°N, 98.23°WMarianna — 30.77°N, 85.23°WMarianna — 31.57°N, 88.04°WMarianna — 31.54°N, 87.52°WSan Andres — 12.53°N, 81.70°WCulebra — 9.13°N, 79.62°WCulebra — 8.97°N, 79.56°WSeroe Domi — 12.48°N, 69.96°WManiyara Fort — 23.46°N, 68.60°EBridgeboro Limestone — 30.78°N, 85.23°WBridgeboro Limestone — 31.40°N, 83.98°WChipola — 30.50°N, 85.12°WChipola — 30.44°N, 85.19°WCaloosahatchee — 26.52°N, 82.03°WCaloosahatchee — 26.74°N, 81.51°WBermont — 26.38°N, 80.71°WAnahuac — 29.28°N, 95.73°WShagra — 25.25°N, 34.80°ESamadai — 25.00°N, 34.93°ECalcari di Mores — 40.62°N, 8.81°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Clypeaster has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 40 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 99 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Clypeaster and its relatives

Miocene

Where Clypeaster and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,616 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 209 sites for Clypeaster, 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

89 references

Each of the 293 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. 77 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 Clypeaster

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itClypeasteridae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lamarck 1801