Cricotus

Cricotus is an extinct genus of Embolomeri. It was erected by Cope in 1875, on the basis of fragmentary, not clearly associated remains including caudal vertebrae, on which the name was established, as well as a few other postcranial bones. It was little-used in the subsequent literature, contrary to Archeria, which appears to be a junior synonym of Cricotus. However, given that the type species of Cricotus is a nomen dubium, the name Cricotus is unavailable. This led to Holmes suggesting using the name Archeria for this taxon, though he provided no evidence that he made a formal appeal to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for this.

Cricotus

Ghedo · 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
ArcheriidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 303.7 Mya to 290.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 306 Mya to 274.4 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 3 of 14 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 11 of 14 occurrencesPermian307–306 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences306–304 Mya — about 1 occurrence304–303 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 1 occurrence292–291 Mya — about 1 occurrence291–290 Mya — about 1 occurrence290–289 Mya — about 1 occurrence289–288 Mya — about 1 occurrence288–287 Mya — about 1 occurrence287–286 Mya — about 1 occurrence286–285 Mya — about 1 occurrence285–284 Mya — about 1 occurrence284–283 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences281–280 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences278–277 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences277–276 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences276–275 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences303.7 Mya290.1 Mya306.6 Mya273.8 Mya

14 occurrences of Cricotus on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

14 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

6 formations

Admiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WBond — 40.10°N, 87.83°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WClyde — 33.77°N, 99.10°W

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The named rock units Cricotus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cricotus and its relatives

Permian

Where Cricotus and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

55 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Cricotus, 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

5 references

Each of the 14 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. 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 Cricotus

Credit
Ghedo
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cricotus 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 itArcheriidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1875