Fragilaria

Fragilaria is a genus of freshwater and saltwater diatoms. It is usually a colonial diatom, forming filaments of cells mechanically joined by protrusions on the face and in the center of their valves. The individual diatoms appear swollen in their centers where they are joined to the colonial ribbon. The genus grows as both plankton and benthic species, free living in colonies or as epiphytes. Some species are bloom forming diatoms in eutrophic lakes. The type species is Fragilaria pectinalis Lyngbye from designating a lectotype from Conferva pectinalis O.F.Müller. The taxonomy of the genus is still uncertain.

Fragilaria

Kristian Peters http://www.korseby.net/outer/flora/algae/index.html · 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
FragilariaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Bacillariophyceae
Environment
marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Bacillariophyceae

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 61 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 61 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3 of 61 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 61 occurrencesPleistocene — about 51 of 61 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.6–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 20 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 30 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

61 occurrences of Fragilaria 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

61 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

4 formations

Kelseyville — 38.92°N, 122.88°WKelseyville — 38.95°N, 122.85°WGadeb — 7.12°N, 39.37°EEmbetsu — 44.35°N, 141.73°ELatah — 47.56°N, 117.22°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Fragilaria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Fragilaria and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Fragilaria and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

241 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 44 sites for Fragilaria, 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

16 references

Each of the 61 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. 4 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 Fragilaria

Credit
Kristian Peters http://www.korseby.net/outer/flora/algae/index.html
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Fragilaria 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 itFragilariaceae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lyngbye 1819