Linuparus

Linuparus, the spear lobsters, is a genus of medium-sized to large spiny lobsters in the family Palinuridae. It contains four extant species found at depths of 30–500 m (100–1,640 ft) in the Indo-Pacific, and 32 fossil species, ranging from the Early Cretaceous to the Oligocene. L. trigonus is the only extant species also known from the fossil record.

Linuparus

Andrey Butko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
PalinuridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Decapoda
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Palinuridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Malacostraca
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Malacostraca

Time the record covers

At least 112 million years on record.

The record covers at least 119.57 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 8 of 83 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 62 of 83 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 8 of 83 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 3 of 83 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 83 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 83 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 83 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–116 Mya — about 1 occurrence116–112 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences112–108 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences108–104 Mya — about 2 occurrences104–100 Mya — about 3 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 6 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 13 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 9 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–79 Mya — about 7 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 7 occurrences75–71 Mya — about 7 occurrences71–67 Mya — about 7 occurrences67–63 Mya — about 5 occurrences63–59 Mya — about 3 occurrences59–55 Mya — about 3 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences51–47 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences47–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–35 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences35–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–3.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences119.57 Mya7.246 Mya124 Mya3 Mya

83 occurrences of Linuparus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

83 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

38 formations

Bissekty — 42.11°N, 62.65°EBritton — 32.00°N, 96.00°WBritton — 32.54°N, 97.07°WKrasnoyarka — 48.72°N, 142.66°EKrasnoyarka — 48.67°N, 142.64°ERipley — 35.32°N, 88.42°WRipley — 35.09°N, 88.53°WRipley — 34.42°N, 88.91°WEagle Ford — 31.97°N, 93.18°WEagle Ford — 33.19°N, 96.91°WAtherfield Clay — 50.60°N, 1.32°WAtherfield Clay — 50.61°N, 1.36°WLopez de Bertodano — 64.25°S, 56.75°WLopez de Bertodano — 64.09°S, 57.15°WPawpaw — 32.73°N, 97.32°WPender — 49.82°N, 125.18°WComox — 49.76°N, 125.37°WRancho Nuevo — 25.81°N, 101.12°WRancho Nuevo — 25.89°N, 101.12°WMerchantville — 40.60°N, 74.06°WMerchantville — 39.95°N, 74.99°WSanta Marta — 63.91°S, 57.81°WSanta Marta — 63.89°S, 57.97°WDenton — 33.78°N, 96.52°WDenton — 32.95°N, 97.35°WElm Fork Shale — 32.87°N, 96.93°WUpper Ammonite — 43.17°N, 141.37°EUpper Ammonite — 40.19°N, 141.74°EMancos Shale — 35.72°N, 106.92°WCarlile Shale — 38.87°N, 99.33°WMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WOguwa — 33.25°N, 132.75°EUchkuduk — 42.11°N, 62.65°EDzheirantui — 42.44°N, 63.34°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°EHaslam — 49.59°N, 124.99°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Linuparus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Linuparus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Linuparus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

760 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 58 sites for Linuparus, 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

45 references

Each of the 83 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. 33 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 Linuparus

Credit
Andrey Butko
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itPalinuridae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. White 1847