Goniasteridae

Goniasteridae constitute the largest family of sea stars, included in the order Valvatida. They are mostly deep-dwelling species, but the family also include several colorful shallow tropical species.

Goniasteridae

Peter Southwood · 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
ValvatidaPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Asteroidea
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 168 million years on record.

The record covers at least 180.4 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 182.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 2 of 444 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 14 of 444 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 17 of 444 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 24 of 444 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 322 of 444 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 16 of 444 occurrencesEocene — about 37 of 444 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 5 of 444 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 444 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 444 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 444 occurrences186–180 Mya — about 2 occurrences174–168 Mya — about 3 occurrences168–162 Mya — about 10 occurrences162–156 Mya — about 12 occurrences156–150 Mya — about 6 occurrences150–143 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences143–137 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences137–131 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences131–125 Mya — about 3 occurrences125–119 Mya — about 6 occurrences119–113 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113–106 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences106–100 Mya — about 16 occurrences100–94 Mya — about 89 occurrences94–88 Mya — about 51 occurrences88–82 Mya — about 56 occurrences82–76 Mya — about 29 occurrences76–69 Mya — about 51 occurrences69–63 Mya — about 53 occurrences63–57 Mya — about 6 occurrences57–51 Mya — about 11 occurrences51–45 Mya — about 8 occurrences45–39 Mya — about 9 occurrences39–33 Mya — about 10 occurrences33–26 Mya — about 3 occurrences26–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–7.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences180.4 Mya11.63 Mya186 Mya2 Mya

444 occurrences of Goniasteridae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

444 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

66 formations

Gulpen — 50.73°N, 5.67°EGulpen — 50.75°N, 5.67°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.70°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.77°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 6.77°EMaastricht — 50.86°N, 5.79°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.15°N, 2.50°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.15°N, 2.57°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.17°N, 2.70°EWilmington Sands — 50.80°N, 0.18°ESables de Montormel — 48.97°N, 0.05°WWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EPawpaw — 32.73°N, 97.32°WPawpaw — 32.95°N, 97.32°WPawpaw — 32.84°N, 97.29°WPawpaw — 32.63°N, 97.40°WMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.67°EBilá — 49.98°N, 15.60°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.23°N, 14.43°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.13°N, 14.28°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.06°N, 15.10°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.83°N, 15.25°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.95°N, 15.47°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.98°N, 15.60°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.97°N, 15.65°ESantee Limestone — 33.45°N, 80.16°WSantee Limestone — 33.51°N, 80.49°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.41°N, 80.10°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 79.69°WCraie de Meudon — 48.82°N, 2.23°EHolywell Nodular Chalk — 51.25°N, 0.15°WCalcaires à Baculites — 49.43°N, 1.35°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.67°WLa Meseta — 64.26°S, 56.68°WLa Tonnelle — 46.85°N, 1.88°WGrizzle — 50.80°N, 0.18°EHouthem — 50.87°N, 5.78°EMarnes de Latrecey — 47.98°N, 4.85°EPierre Blanche de Langrune — 49.30°N, 0.35°WBryozoan Limestone — 55.28°N, 12.45°EOcala Limestone — 29.68°N, 82.57°WOcala Limestone — 29.01°N, 82.70°WVincentown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WVincentown — 39.93°N, 74.73°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.83°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Goniasteridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 205 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Goniasteridae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Goniasteridae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

2,324 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 222 sites for Goniasteridae, 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

74 references

Each of the 444 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. 62 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 Goniasteridae

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

No 3D scan of Goniasteridae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itValvatida through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Forbes 1841