Dendraster

Dendraster is a genus of echinoderms, the only genus in the family Dendrasteridae. The extant species in this genus are found in the northeast Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Baja California. The best-known, most common and widespread species is D. excentricus.

Dendraster

D. Gordon E. Robertson · 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
DendrasteridaePBDB
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 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 131 occurrencesMiocene — about 12 of 131 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 46 of 131 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 73 of 131 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 11 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 14 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 13 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 18 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 25 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

131 occurrences of Dendraster on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

131 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

18 formations

Careaga Sandstone — 34.74°N, 120.41°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.88°N, 120.51°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.71°N, 118.27°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.17°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.94°WEtchegoin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WEtchegoin — 36.02°N, 120.04°WEtchegoin — 36.02°N, 120.27°WEtchegoin — 34.84°N, 120.41°WEtchegoin — 36.18°N, 120.29°WEtchegoin — 36.25°N, 120.31°WEtchegoin — 36.12°N, 120.41°WEtchegoin — 36.09°N, 120.50°WEtchegoin — 36.20°N, 120.67°WJacalitos — 36.09°N, 120.50°WJacalitos — 36.04°N, 120.39°WJacalitos — 36.07°N, 120.45°WJacalitos — 35.94°N, 120.15°WPico — 34.35°N, 118.49°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.56°WSisquoc — 34.81°N, 120.22°WPancho Rico — 36.21°N, 121.02°WPancho Rico — 36.13°N, 121.02°WPancho Rico — 36.03°N, 120.80°WSalada — 24.12°N, 111.02°WSalada — 27.70°N, 114.90°WSan Pedro — 33.93°N, 117.95°WSan Pedro — 33.80°N, 118.17°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WPurisima — 37.12°N, 122.31°WPurisima — 37.32°N, 122.40°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WUnnamed — 33.24°N, 119.47°WCaloosahatchee — 26.93°N, 82.05°WJackson Bluff — 30.39°N, 84.64°WSan Joaquin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WAnchor — 34.04°N, 118.40°WSaugus — 34.33°N, 118.49°W

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The named rock units Dendraster has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 31 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dendraster and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dendraster and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,178 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 107 sites for Dendraster, 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

34 references

Each of the 131 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. 22 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 content3

Picture of Dendraster

Credit
D. Gordon E. Robertson
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
dendraster excentricus · MST:PALEO:MST-SP-6557

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itDendrasteridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz and Desor 1847