Hercosestria

Hercosestria is an extinct genus of brachiopods from the Lower and Middle Permian. They were important reef-forming organisms because of their conical shapes, attaching spines, and gregarious habits. It is related to Richthofenia. Species of the genus have been found in Texas and Guatemala.

Hercosestria

Wilson44691 · CC0 · 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
HercosiidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Lyttoniidina
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Lyttoniidina
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Lyttoniidina
Vision
blindPBDB, for Strophomenata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lyttoniidina

Time the record covers

At least 7.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 274.4 Mya to 266.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 283.3 Mya to 264.28 Mya.

Permian — about 28 of 28 occurrencesPermian284–283 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences283–282 Mya — about 1 occurrence282–282 Mya — about 1 occurrence282–281 Mya — about 1 occurrence281–280 Mya — about 1 occurrence280–280 Mya — about 1 occurrence280–279 Mya — about 1 occurrence279–278 Mya — about 1 occurrence278–278 Mya — about 1 occurrence278–277 Mya — about 1 occurrence277–276 Mya — about 1 occurrence276–276 Mya — about 1 occurrence276–275 Mya — about 1 occurrence275–274 Mya — about 1 occurrence274–274 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences274–273 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences273–272 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences272–272 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences272–271 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences271–270 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences270–270 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences270–269 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences269–268 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences268–268 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences268–267 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences267–266 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences266–266 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences266–265 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences265–264 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences264–264 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences274.4 Mya266.9 Mya283.8 Mya263.8 Mya

28 occurrences of Hercosestria on record, most of them in the Permian. 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

28 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

5 formations

Road Canyon — 30.38°N, 103.16°WRoad Canyon — 30.39°N, 103.14°WRoad Canyon — 30.35°N, 103.27°WCathedral Mountain — 30.41°N, 103.11°WCathedral Mountain — 30.31°N, 103.30°WChochal — 15.62°N, 91.97°WChochal — 15.55°N, 91.62°WLas Delicias — 26.43°N, 102.88°WGundara — 38.76°N, 70.87°E

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The named rock units Hercosestria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Hercosestria and its relatives

Permian

Where Hercosestria and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

536 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Hercosestria, 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

4 references

Each of the 28 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 content1

Picture of Hercosestria

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hercosestria 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 itHercosiidae through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cooper and Grant 1969