Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria

Uncredited · via Wikidata/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
BacteriaPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Environment
hypersaline,marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 3197 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3200 Mya to 2.58 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 3600 Mya to 774 ka.

Cambrian — about 359 of 2778 occurrencesOrdovician — about 229 of 2778 occurrencesSilurian — about 77 of 2778 occurrencesDevonian — about 316 of 2778 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 141 of 2778 occurrencesPermian — about 137 of 2778 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 2 of 2778 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 77 of 2778 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 192 of 2778 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 6 of 2778 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 16 of 2778 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 152 of 2778 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 164 of 2778 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 63 of 2778 occurrencesPaleocene — about 5 of 2778 occurrencesEocene — about 7 of 2778 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 2778 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 2778 occurrences3672–3550 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3550–3427 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3427–3305 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3305–3182 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2815–2693 Mya — about 2 occurrences2693–2570 Mya — about 2 occurrences2570–2448 Mya — about 1 occurrence2081–1958 Mya — about 25 occurrences1958–1836 Mya — about 33 occurrences1836–1714 Mya — about 46 occurrences1714–1591 Mya — about 54 occurrences1591–1469 Mya — about 86 occurrences1469–1346 Mya — about 60 occurrences1346–1224 Mya — about 27 occurrences1224–1102 Mya — about 40 occurrences1102–979 Mya — about 60 occurrences979–857 Mya — about 138 occurrences857–734 Mya — about 138 occurrences734–612 Mya — about 42 occurrences612–490 Mya — about 427 occurrences490–367 Mya — about 604 occurrences367–245 Mya — about 312 occurrences245–122 Mya — about 501 occurrences122–0 Mya — about 179 occurrences3200 Mya2.58 Mya3672 Mya0 Mya

2,778 occurrences of Cyanobacteria on record, most of them in the Cambrian. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

2,778 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

526 formations

Bitter Springs — 23.58°S, 134.49°EBitter Springs — 23.79°S, 133.07°EKotuikan — 70.60°N, 104.60°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WGaoyuzhuang — 40.65°N, 115.43°EGaoyuzhuang — 40.16°N, 117.56°EAngmaat — 73.48°N, 80.76°WAngmaat — 73.38°N, 80.39°WAngmaat — 73.55°N, 78.87°WAngmaat — 72.27°N, 79.82°WAngmaat — 72.25°N, 79.97°WAngmaat — 72.24°N, 79.81°WAngmaat — 72.24°N, 79.49°WAngmaat — 72.14°N, 79.01°WAngmaat — 72.13°N, 79.40°WBalbirini Dolomite — 16.75°S, 135.74°EBalbirini Dolomite — 16.75°S, 135.74°EBenbolt — 37.10°N, 81.34°WBenbolt — 37.22°N, 81.36°WBenbolt — 37.23°N, 81.10°WBenbolt — 37.00°N, 81.00°WBenbolt — 37.23°N, 81.32°WBenbolt — 37.08°N, 81.71°WBenbolt — 37.10°N, 81.56°WBenbolt — 37.11°N, 81.52°WBenbolt — 37.27°N, 81.00°WBenbolt — 37.00°N, 81.67°WBenbolt — 37.02°N, 81.63°WBenbolt — 36.19°N, 83.93°WMcLeary — 56.54°N, 79.24°WYuhucun — 24.56°N, 102.72°EYuhucun — 24.71°N, 102.57°EVictor Bay — 73.31°N, 80.47°WVictor Bay — 72.33°N, 79.78°WBarney Creek — 16.44°S, 136.09°EBarney Creek — 16.43°S, 136.04°EDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.07°EDachstein — 47.58°N, 14.47°EDachstein — 47.50°N, 13.50°EDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.69°EDachstein — 48.00°N, 16.42°ESafetdara — 38.76°N, 70.89°ECraggy Dolomite — 65.26°N, 140.94°WKasegalik — 56.49°N, 79.51°WRyssö — 79.97°N, 18.28°ERyssö — 79.93°N, 18.46°ERyssö — 79.94°N, 18.41°EChangxing — 29.42°N, 110.90°EChangxing — 29.92°N, 106.43°EChangxing — 30.48°N, 109.05°EChangxing — 31.76°N, 108.46°EChangxing — 30.43°N, 108.53°EChangxing — 30.05°N, 108.93°EChangxing — 29.98°N, 109.08°EChangxing — 30.22°N, 109.05°EChangxing — 32.38°N, 107.11°EChangxing — 25.75°N, 112.82°ESalaany Gol — 46.87°N, 95.80°ESalaany Gol — 47.15°N, 96.90°EYunghsien — 25.35°N, 110.10°EYunghsien — 25.33°N, 110.12°EYusmastakh — 70.56°N, 104.32°EMatoppa — 39.27°N, 8.47°EMatoppa — 39.18°N, 8.55°EMatoppa — 39.35°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.40°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.37°N, 8.52°ECassian — 46.52°N, 11.65°ECassian — 46.51°N, 11.96°ECassian — 46.58°N, 12.25°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.54°N, 11.90°EHeceta — 55.78°N, 133.17°WHeceta — 55.78°N, 133.48°WHeceta — 55.73°N, 133.47°WKindblade — 34.93°N, 98.73°WKindblade — 34.38°N, 96.93°WKindblade — 34.37°N, 97.13°WKindblade — 34.42°N, 97.27°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cyanobacteria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 502 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 654 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cyanobacteria and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Cyanobacteria and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

2,510 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 950 sites for Cyanobacteria, 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

643 references

Each of the 2,778 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. 631 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 Cyanobacteria

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBacteria through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stanier 1973