Cyclopyge

Cyclopyge is a genus of small to average size trilobites that lived during the Ordovician. Like all members of the family Cyclopigidae, it has very large convex eyes, that cover most of the free cheeks, and in some species touch each other. The eyes almost touch the large glabella. The occipital ring has merged with the rest of the glabella. The glabella does not extend into a frontal thorn. The cephalon lacks genal spines. The 6 thorax segments have short pleurae. The pygidium is rather large, and often rather effaced. These are features that also occur in other Cyclopygidae, and are indications of a pelagic lifestyle.

Cyclopyge

Dwergenpaartje · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
CyclopygidaePBDB
Diet
microcarnivorePBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 477.1 Mya to 448.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.4 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 122 occurrencesOrdovician — about 122 of 122 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 122 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences486–484 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences484–483 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences483–481 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences481–480 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences480–478 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences478–477 Mya — about 1 occurrence477–475 Mya — about 2 occurrences475–474 Mya — about 2 occurrences474–472 Mya — about 2 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 3 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 5 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 2 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 2 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 3 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 5 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 8 occurrences456–454 Mya — about 8 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 8 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 10 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 11 occurrences450–448 Mya — about 15 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 12 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 12 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 4 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 1 occurrence477.1 Mya448.8 Mya487.3 Mya442.2 Mya

122 occurrences of Cyclopyge on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

122 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

51 formations

Tangtou — 32.00°N, 118.00°ETangtou — 30.00°N, 116.00°ETangtou — 32.00°N, 119.00°ETangtou — 32.07°N, 119.26°EBaota — 32.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 110.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 31.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 118.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 116.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 106.00°EDomusnovas — 40.34°N, 8.69°EDomusnovas — 39.33°N, 8.67°EDomusnovas — 39.44°N, 8.42°EDomusnovas — 39.44°N, 8.51°EDomusnovas — 39.24°N, 8.49°EQilang — 40.64°N, 79.50°EHuangnigang — 29.00°N, 115.00°EHuangnigang — 28.00°N, 118.00°EHuangnigang — 30.00°N, 120.00°EHuangnigang — 29.00°N, 119.00°EGrande Coupe — 48.54°N, 64.25°WLinxiang — 33.00°N, 111.00°ELinxiang — 29.00°N, 110.00°ELinxiang — 30.00°N, 111.00°EKomstad — 55.04°N, 14.88°EJerrestad Shale — 57.78°N, 14.18°EJerrestad Shale — 55.54°N, 14.29°EVinice — 50.00°N, 14.00°EYanwashan — 29.00°N, 115.00°EYanwashan — 28.00°N, 118.00°EYanwashan — 31.00°N, 120.00°EKaragach — 47.99°N, 80.91°EPyle Mountain Argillite — 46.68°N, 68.22°WYinzhupu — 29.00°N, 115.00°EYinzhupu — 30.00°N, 120.00°EChangwu — 28.00°N, 118.00°EChangwu — 29.00°N, 119.00°EWhite Head — 48.47°N, 64.32°WWhite Head — 48.50°N, 64.23°WXiayan — 37.00°N, 95.00°EXiayan — 40.00°N, 95.00°EYinpingshan — 41.22°N, 87.57°EToyen — 60.00°N, 11.00°ECrugan Mudstone — 53.00°N, 4.00°WDwyfor Mudstone — 53.00°N, 4.00°WMytton Flags and Tankerville — 53.00°N, 3.00°WPontyfenni — 52.00°N, 5.00°WLlanfallteg — 52.00°N, 5.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cyclopyge has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cyclopyge and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Cyclopyge and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

865 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 116 sites for Cyclopyge, 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

47 references

Each of the 122 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. 35 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 Cyclopyge

Credit
Dwergenpaartje
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itCyclopygidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hawle and Corda 1847