Limacina

Limacina is a genus of swimming predatory sea snails commonly known as sea butterflies in the family Limacinidae. This genus contains some of the world's most abundant gastropod species.

Limacina

Photo by Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. · 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
LimacinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Limacinidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Limacinidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Limacinidae
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 47 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 154 occurrencesEocene — about 28 of 154 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 154 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 88 of 154 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 20 of 154 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 154 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 5 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 5 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 4 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 1 occurrence38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 3 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 3 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–21 Mya — about 7 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 9 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 11 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 15 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 6 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 7 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 15 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences48.07 Mya129 ka57 Mya0 Mya

154 occurrences of Limacina on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

154 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

29 formations

Marnes de Gan — 43.23°N, 0.40°WMarnes de Gan — 43.22°N, 0.35°WKishima — 33.37°N, 129.93°EReklaw — 30.01°N, 97.26°WReklaw — 30.80°N, 96.72°WCercado — 19.45°N, 71.18°WCercado — 19.52°N, 71.28°WCercado — 19.45°N, 71.08°WCercado — 19.58°N, 71.04°WRio Banano — 9.91°N, 83.09°WCayo Agua — 9.18°N, 82.05°WCayo Agua — 9.15°N, 82.03°WEscudo de Veraguas — 9.10°N, 81.58°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WBreda — 51.95°N, 6.75°ERed Bluff — 31.66°N, 88.66°WBerchem — 51.29°N, 4.27°EHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.93°N, 87.75°WGram — 55.28°N, 9.00°EWerder — 52.98°N, 9.06°ELillo — 51.27°N, 4.30°EMonte Vaticano — 41.90°N, 12.45°ELondon Clay — 50.89°N, 1.28°WYazoo — 32.47°N, 90.29°WWaikareka Volcanic — 44.64°S, 171.01°EAghia Varvara — 35.17°N, 25.17°EMoin — 9.99°N, 83.04°WChagres Sandstone — 9.33°N, 80.00°WEbelsberg — 48.21°N, 14.22°EFalun de Sainte-Avit — 43.91°N, 0.66°W

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The named rock units Limacina has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 80 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Limacina and its relatives

Miocene

Where Limacina and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

977 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 77 sites for Limacina, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

33 references

Each of the 154 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. 21 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 Limacina

Credit
Photo by Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Limacina retroversa · ANSP:IP:23A_9

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 itLimacinidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bosc 1817