Heliolites

Heliolites is a large and heterogenous genus of extinct tabulate corals in the family Heliolitidae. Specimens have been found in Ordovician to Devonian beds in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The genus is particularly abundant in the Wellin Member of the Hanonet Formation of Belgium.

Heliolites

Jonathan Chen · CC BY 4.0 · 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
HeliolitidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feeder, photosymbioticPBDB, for Tabulata
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Tabulata
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Tabulata
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa

Time the record covers

At least 88 million years on record.

The record covers at least 457.2 Mya to 368.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Ordovician — about 50 of 524 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 341 of 524 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 133 of 524 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 524 occurrences474–470 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences470–466 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences466–462 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences462–458 Mya — about 2 occurrences458–454 Mya — about 7 occurrences454–450 Mya — about 14 occurrences450–446 Mya — about 18 occurrences446–442 Mya — about 12 occurrences442–438 Mya — about 26 occurrences438–435 Mya — about 30 occurrences435–431 Mya — about 54 occurrences431–427 Mya — about 54 occurrences427–423 Mya — about 149 occurrences423–419 Mya — about 25 occurrences419–415 Mya — about 9 occurrences415–411 Mya — about 18 occurrences411–407 Mya — about 10 occurrences407–403 Mya — about 7 occurrences403–399 Mya — about 7 occurrences399–396 Mya — about 4 occurrences396–392 Mya — about 7 occurrences392–388 Mya — about 12 occurrences388–384 Mya — about 37 occurrences384–380 Mya — about 14 occurrences380–376 Mya — about 2 occurrences376–372 Mya — about 2 occurrences372–368 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences368–364 Mya — about 1 occurrence364–361 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences361–357 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences457.2 Mya368.5 Mya474 Mya357 Mya

524 occurrences of Heliolites on record, most of them in the Silurian. 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

524 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

168 formations

Douro — 73.25°N, 93.50°WDouro — 72.67°N, 99.55°WDouro — 75.25°N, 95.00°WDouro — 74.42°N, 95.00°WDouro — 75.00°N, 86.00°WDouro — 74.58°N, 95.50°WDouro — 73.93°N, 92.10°WDouro — 72.98°N, 91.66°WDouro — 72.82°N, 92.02°WLa Vieille — 48.83°N, 64.48°WLa Vieille — 46.92°N, 66.00°WLa Vieille — 48.13°N, 65.83°WLa Vieille — 48.22°N, 64.88°WLa Vieille — 48.18°N, 65.03°WLa Vieille — 48.20°N, 64.80°WHemse Beds — 57.28°N, 18.32°EHemse Beds — 57.37°N, 18.69°EHemse Beds — 57.23°N, 18.37°EHemse Beds — 57.31°N, 18.37°EScotch Grove — 42.00°N, 91.00°WScotch Grove — 41.92°N, 90.92°WScotch Grove — 41.90°N, 90.60°WScotch Grove — 42.00°N, 92.00°WScotch Grove — 41.85°N, 90.18°WGascons — 48.18°N, 64.98°WGascons — 47.91°N, 66.52°WCoopers Creek Limestone — 38.15°S, 146.47°ESlite Beds — 57.72°N, 18.80°EMotol — 49.95°N, 12.93°EMotol — 49.97°N, 14.07°EMotol — 49.77°N, 13.25°EPortilla — 42.85°N, 1.84°EPortilla — 42.88°N, 5.12°EPortilla — 42.84°N, 5.50°WMia Le — 22.23°N, 106.18°EDaylesford Limestone — 33.00°S, 149.00°EDaylesford Limestone — 33.34°S, 148.84°EDaylesford Limestone — 33.00°S, 148.00°EUpper Visby — 57.63°N, 18.30°EUpper Visby — 57.82°N, 18.48°EVaughn Gulch — 36.82°N, 118.08°WVaughn Gulch — 36.90°N, 118.07°WLimestone Point — 46.92°N, 66.00°WLimestone Point — 47.73°N, 65.72°WKlinteberg Beds — 57.53°N, 18.43°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 12.93°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 14.22°EKopanina — 50.00°N, 14.32°EMuch Wenlock — 52.00°N, 2.00°WMuch Wenlock — 52.02°N, 2.57°WMuch Wenlock — 52.60°N, 2.55°WMuch Wenlock — 52.50°N, 2.08°WGazelle — 41.51°N, 122.58°WGazelle — 41.37°N, 122.67°WNa Quan — 22.68°N, 106.67°ENa Quan — 22.23°N, 106.18°ELouisville Limestone — 40.55°N, 84.57°WLouisville Limestone — 38.26°N, 85.63°WBelubula — 34.00°S, 149.00°EBelubula — 33.63°S, 148.78°EBelubula — 33.00°S, 148.00°EBrassfield — 37.66°N, 84.12°WBrassfield — 37.80°N, 84.09°WBrassfield — 37.71°N, 83.98°WNingqiang — 32.68°N, 105.93°ENingqiang — 32.68°N, 106.05°ENingqiang — 32.82°N, 106.28°EHopkinton — 43.00°N, 91.00°WHopkinton — 42.00°N, 91.00°WHopkinton — 42.17°N, 90.58°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Heliolites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 144 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 90 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heliolites and its relatives

Silurian

Where Heliolites and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

1,775 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 295 sites for Heliolites, and this reads 240 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

148 references

Each of the 524 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. 136 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 content2

Picture of Heliolites

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow 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 itHeliolitidae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dana 1846