Heterocentrotus

Heterocentrotus is a genus of the family Echinometridae. They are mainly found in the Indo-Pacific basin, especially in Reunion or Hawaii. This genus appeared in the Miocene and spread throughout the warm Indo-Pacific.

Heterocentrotus

David Burdick · Public Domain · 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
EchinometridaePBDB
Diet
grazer, deposit feederPBDB, for Echinoidea
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Echinoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Echinoidea
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Echinoidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 15 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 7 of 15 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Heterocentrotus 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

15 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

6 formations

Ndalithoni Limestone — 17.23°S, 178.95°E"Old Reef Limestone" — 23.62°N, 36.20°ETagpochau — 15.18°N, 145.76°EFutuna Limestone — 18.22°S, 178.78°EShagra — 25.25°N, 34.80°ESamadai — 25.00°N, 34.93°E

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The named rock units Heterocentrotus 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.

Heterocentrotus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Heterocentrotus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

91 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Heterocentrotus, 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

11 references

Each of the 15 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 Heterocentrotus

Credit
David Burdick
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itEchinometridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brandt 1835