Elliptocephala

Elliptocephala is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived from the later part of the Tommotian to the upper Botomian. Elliptocephala can easily be confused with Ellipsocephalus, a trilobite genus of the Ptychopariida order.

No picture of Elliptocephala was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Elliptocephala, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
WanneriidaePBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Redlichiida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Redlichiida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Redlichiida
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At most 33 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 538.8 Mya and 506.5 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Cambrian — about 29 of 29 occurrencesCambrian539–538 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences538–537 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences537–536 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences536–535 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences535–534 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences534–533 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences533–532 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences532–530 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences530–529 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences529–528 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences528–527 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences527–526 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences526–525 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences524–523 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences523–522 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences520–519 Mya — about 1 occurrence519–518 Mya — about 1 occurrence518–517 Mya — about 1 occurrence517–516 Mya — about 1 occurrence516–515 Mya — about 3 occurrences515–514 Mya — about 4 occurrences514–513 Mya — about 4 occurrences513–511 Mya — about 4 occurrences511–510 Mya — about 4 occurrences510–509 Mya — about 2 occurrences509–508 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences508–507 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences539.4 Mya505.9 Mya

29 occurrences of Elliptocephala on record, most of them in the Cambrian. 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

29 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

8 formations

Sekwi — 63.52°N, 128.68°WSekwi — 63.55°N, 129.20°WSekwi — 63.37°N, 129.13°WBrowns Pond — 42.22°N, 73.73°WBrowns Pond — 43.60°N, 73.32°WForteau — 51.56°N, 56.75°WForteau — 51.46°N, 56.86°WForteau — 51.02°N, 56.81°WForteau — 51.01°N, 56.60°WIlltyd — 65.09°N, 134.71°WSchodack — 42.53°N, 73.69°WMural — 53.18°N, 119.13°WPoleta — 37.73°N, 117.32°WStissing — 43.17°N, 73.32°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Elliptocephala 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.

Elliptocephala and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Elliptocephala and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

94 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 24 sites for Elliptocephala, 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

14 references

Each of the 29 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. 2 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 content0

No picture of Elliptocephala was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Elliptocephala, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Elliptocephala 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 itWanneriidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Emmons 1844)