Heterostraci

Heterostraci is an extinct subclass of pteraspidomorph, ostracoderm, jawless vertebrate that lived primarily in marine and estuary environments. Heterostraci existed from the mid-Ordovician to the conclusion of the Devonian.

Heterostraci

Apokryltaros · CC BY-SA 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
PteraspidomorphaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chordata

Time the record covers

At least 109 million years on record.

The record covers at least 432.9 Mya to 323.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 298.9 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 784 occurrencesSilurian — about 120 of 784 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 662 of 784 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 2 of 784 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 784 occurrences446–441 Mya — about 1 occurrence441–436 Mya — about 3 occurrences436–431 Mya — about 5 occurrences431–426 Mya — about 20 occurrences426–421 Mya — about 66 occurrences421–416 Mya — about 256 occurrences416–411 Mya — about 187 occurrences411–406 Mya — about 27 occurrences406–401 Mya — about 23 occurrences401–396 Mya — about 30 occurrences396–391 Mya — about 34 occurrences391–386 Mya — about 64 occurrences386–381 Mya — about 41 occurrences381–376 Mya — about 14 occurrences376–371 Mya — about 11 occurrences371–366 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences366–361 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences361–356 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences326–321 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences321–316 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences316–311 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences311–306 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences306–301 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences301–296 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences432.9 Mya323.4 Mya446 Mya296 Mya

784 occurrences of Heterostraci on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

784 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

118 formations

Delorme — 62.77°N, 126.50°WDelorme — 63.17°N, 127.88°WDelorme — 62.55°N, 127.75°WDelorme — 63.42°N, 128.00°WDelorme — 63.55°N, 128.65°WDelorme — 63.53°N, 128.70°WDelorme — 61.71°N, 124.98°WDelorme — 63.23°N, 128.01°WPeel Sound — 73.25°N, 93.50°WPeel Sound — 72.23°N, 96.55°WPeel Sound — 73.95°N, 95.23°WPeel Sound — 72.83°N, 93.70°WPeel Sound — 73.76°N, 98.70°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.78°N, 98.47°WPeel Sound — 73.42°N, 100.41°WPeel Sound — 73.48°N, 97.45°WDniester — 48.77°N, 25.61°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.59°EDniester — 48.67°N, 25.69°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.48°EDniester — 49.14°N, 25.05°EDniester — 48.69°N, 25.62°EDniester — 48.63°N, 25.74°EDniester — 49.06°N, 25.39°EDniester — 49.07°N, 25.20°EDniester — 49.19°N, 25.37°EBen Nevis — 79.63°N, 12.29°EKureika — 60.34°N, 107.02°EKureika — 66.51°N, 87.24°EKureika — 66.94°N, 88.33°EKureika — 68.03°N, 88.63°EKureika — 69.39°N, 88.21°EFraenkelryggen — 79.83°N, 12.00°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°ESomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.23°WSomerset Island — 74.13°N, 94.15°WSomerset Island — 72.85°N, 93.28°WSomerset Island — 72.87°N, 93.75°WSomerset Island — 73.98°N, 95.28°WSomerset Island — 71.49°N, 93.46°WSomerset Island — 74.02°N, 94.58°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.53°N, 2.48°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.50°N, 2.62°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.42°N, 2.72°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.39°N, 2.63°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.37°N, 2.54°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.41°N, 2.32°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.34°N, 2.39°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.09°N, 2.87°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.17°N, 2.44°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.15°N, 2.73°WPsammosteus Limestone — 51.94°N, 3.40°WPsammosteus Limestone — 51.71°N, 2.51°WPod''emnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ETyver — 48.98°N, 25.71°ETyver — 49.20°N, 25.62°ETyver — 49.32°N, 25.61°ETyver — 49.30°N, 25.70°ETyver — 48.64°N, 25.73°EBeartooth Butte — 44.87°N, 108.07°WBeartooth Butte — 44.95°N, 109.62°WAruküla — 57.55°N, 25.28°EWood Bay — 78.77°N, 15.48°EWood Bay — 79.39°N, 13.80°EWood Bay — 79.29°N, 13.72°EWood Bay — 79.45°N, 13.50°EWood Bay — 79.24°N, 13.40°EWood Bay — 79.57°N, 13.14°EWood Bay — 78.89°N, 15.48°ESpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EOld Red Sandstone — 51.86°N, 2.73°WOld Red Sandstone — 51.82°N, 2.72°WAruküla — 59.37°N, 25.08°EIvanie — 49.20°N, 25.70°EIvanie — 49.05°N, 25.72°EIvanie — 48.67°N, 25.76°EIvanie — 48.72°N, 25.63°EUryum — 73.52°N, 91.30°EVstrechnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°ELost Burro — 36.30°N, 116.96°WSevy Dolomite — 39.62°N, 114.89°WSevy Dolomite — 38.69°N, 112.56°WBurtnieki — 58.10°N, 25.55°ECape Phillips — 75.13°N, 95.00°WCape Phillips — 75.87°N, 94.58°WBabin Sandstone — 48.83°N, 28.00°E

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The named rock units Heterostraci has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 94 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 98 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterostraci and its relatives

Devonian

Where Heterostraci and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

1,193 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 286 sites for Heterostraci, 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

123 references

Each of the 784 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. 111 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 Heterostraci

Credit
Apokryltaros
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Heterostraci 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 itPteraspidomorpha through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lankester 1868)