Fusulinida

The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was differentiated into two or more layers. Loeblich and Tappan, 1988, gives a range from the Lower Silurian to the Upper Permian, with the fusulinid foraminifera going extinct with the Permian–Triassic extinction event. While the latter is true, a more supported projected timespan is from the Mid-Carboniferous period.

Fusulinida

Wilson44691 · 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
FusulininaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Foraminifera
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Foraminifera
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Foraminifera
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 44 million years on record.

The record covers at least 311.46 Mya to 266.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 323.4 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 45 of 50 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 5 of 50 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 50 occurrences325–322 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences322–320 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences320–317 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences317–315 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences315–312 Mya — about 3 occurrences312–310 Mya — about 4 occurrences310–307 Mya — about 3 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 7 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 12 occurrences303–300 Mya — about 11 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 5 occurrences298–295 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences293–290 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences290–288 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences288–285 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences283–280 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences280–278 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences278–275 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences275–273 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences273–270 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences270–268 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences268–265 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences265–263 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences263–260 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences260–258 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences258–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–250 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences311.46 Mya266.9 Mya325 Mya250 Mya

50 occurrences of Fusulinida on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

50 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

14 formations

Graham — 33.17°N, 98.16°WGraham — 33.27°N, 98.11°WGraham — 33.19°N, 98.11°WGraham — 33.12°N, 98.51°WGraham — 33.14°N, 98.20°WGraham — 33.08°N, 98.40°WGraham — 33.29°N, 98.25°WGraham — 33.00°N, 98.54°WBrad — 33.24°N, 98.08°WBrad — 33.07°N, 98.30°WCaddo Creek — 33.24°N, 98.08°WTsninskaya — 48.30°N, 39.84°EBoggy — 34.79°N, 96.71°WAltamont — 40.65°N, 92.95°WAltamont — 37.76°N, 94.74°WMcCloud Limestone — 40.94°N, 122.24°WWord — 30.40°N, 103.17°WHolder — 33.40°N, 105.87°WStory — 33.88°N, 106.34°WNarskaya — 48.30°N, 39.84°ELost Branch — 40.65°N, 92.90°WDennis — 41.33°N, 94.01°WSwope — 38.96°N, 94.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Fusulinida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Fusulinida and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Fusulinida and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

322 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Fusulinida, 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

12 references

Each of the 50 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. 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 Fusulinida

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itFusulinina through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Wedekind 1937)