Megalograptus

Megalograptus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Megalograptus have been recovered in deposits of Katian age in North America. The genus contains five species: M. alveolatus, M. ohioensis, M. shideleri, M. welchi and M. williamsae, all based on fossil material found in the United States. Fossils unassigned to any particular species have also been found in Canada. The generic name translates to "great writing" and originates from the mistaken original belief that Megalograptus was a type of graptolite, often given names ending with -graptus.

Megalograptus

James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · 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
MegalograptidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eurypterida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Eurypterida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eurypterida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Eurypterida

Time the record covers

At least 600 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 450.2 Mya to 449.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 458.2 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Ordovician — about 8 of 8 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 8 occurrences459–458 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences458–458 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences457–457 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences455–455 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences454–454 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences453–453 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences452–452 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences451–451 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences450–450 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences449–449 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences449–448 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences447–447 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences447–446 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences446–446 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences446–445 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences445–445 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences444–444 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences444–443 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences443–443 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences450.2 Mya – 449.6 Mya458.7 Mya442.6 Mya

8 occurrences of Megalograptus on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

8 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

5 formations

Waynesville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WWaynesville — 39.34°N, 84.06°WLiberty — 39.00°N, 84.00°WLiberty — 39.40°N, 84.01°WMartinsburg — 40.48°N, 76.53°WMartinsburg — 36.84°N, 81.72°WElkhorn — 38.68°N, 83.45°WWhitewater — 39.51°N, 84.75°W

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The named rock units Megalograptus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Megalograptus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Megalograptus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

213 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Megalograptus, 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

4 references

Each of the 8 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 Megalograptus

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itMegalograptidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Miller 1874