Lichenalia

Lichenalia is an extinct genus of cystoporate bryozoan of the family Rhinoporidae, known from the Upper Ordovician to the Middle Silurian. Its colonies could form hollow branched or tube-shaped colonies or have an encrusting growth habit. It possessed prominent lunaria and a vesicular skeleton. As in other members of Rhinoporidae, the vesicular skeleton contained tunnels that appeared like ridges on the surface of the colony. Their purpose is unknown, but they may have been used as brooding chambers.

Lichenalia

Unknown author Unknown author · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
RhinoporidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Bryozoa
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Vision
blindPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 66 million years on record.

The record covers at least 454 Mya to 387.95 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 458.2 Mya to 382.31 Mya.

Ordovician — about 13 of 39 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 21 of 39 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 5 of 39 occurrencesDevonian460–457 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences457–454 Mya — about 2 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences452–449 Mya — about 1 occurrence449–447 Mya — about 4 occurrences447–444 Mya — about 3 occurrences444–441 Mya — about 1 occurrence441–439 Mya — about 1 occurrence439–436 Mya — about 1 occurrence436–433 Mya — about 1 occurrence433–431 Mya — about 7 occurrences431–428 Mya — about 6 occurrences428–426 Mya — about 3 occurrences426–423 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences423–420 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences394–391 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences391–389 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences389–386 Mya — about 1 occurrence386–383 Mya — about 1 occurrence383–381 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences454 Mya387.95 Mya460 Mya381 Mya

39 occurrences of Lichenalia 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

39 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

21 formations

Rochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.62°WRochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.06°WRochester Shale — 43.10°N, 79.06°WRochester Shale — 43.20°N, 77.53°WRochester Shale — 43.17°N, 78.68°WRochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.72°WRochester — 43.16°N, 79.05°WRochester — 43.18°N, 78.72°WPin — 32.02°N, 78.05°EOatka — 42.60°N, 74.33°WJaycox — 42.82°N, 77.29°WJaycox — 42.76°N, 76.97°WAdila — 58.86°N, 24.08°EAdila — 58.74°N, 24.08°ESlade and Redhill Mudstone — 51.82°N, 4.63°WLudlowville — 42.80°N, 77.27°WIrondequoit — 43.12°N, 79.07°WMuch Wenlock Limestone — 52.50°N, 2.08°WBeiguoshan — 35.00°N, 107.00°EHenglunshan — 41.95°N, 101.05°EGulang — 38.00°N, 102.00°EYaomoshan — 40.00°N, 99.00°EScotch Grove — 41.90°N, 90.60°WOsgood — 38.95°N, 85.33°WIrondequoit Limestone — 43.15°N, 77.62°WReynales — 43.21°N, 78.51°WGabian — 43.52°N, 3.25°EUggwa — 46.57°N, 13.13°EArina — 59.00°N, 25.00°E

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The named rock units Lichenalia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lichenalia and its relatives

Silurian

Where Lichenalia and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

541 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 34 sites for Lichenalia, 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

17 references

Each of the 39 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. 5 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 Lichenalia

Credit
Unknown author Unknown author
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lichenalia 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 itRhinoporidae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hall 1851