Megapalaeolenus

Megapalaeolenus is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. They lived during the later part of the Botomian stage, which lasted from approximately 524 to 518.5 million years ago. This faunal stage was part of the Cambrian Period.

No picture of Megapalaeolenus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megapalaeolenus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PalaeolenidaePBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Redlichiida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Redlichiida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Redlichiida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Palaeolenidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At most 15 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 521 Mya and 506.5 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Cambrian — about 19 of 19 occurrencesCambrian522–521 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences521–520 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences520–520 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences520–519 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences519–519 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences519–518 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences518–518 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences518–517 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences517–517 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences517–516 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences516–516 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences515–515 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences515–514 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences514–514 Mya — about 1 occurrence514–513 Mya — about 1 occurrence513–513 Mya — about 1 occurrence513–512 Mya — about 1 occurrence512–512 Mya — about 1 occurrence512–511 Mya — about 1 occurrence511–511 Mya — about 1 occurrence511–510 Mya — about 1 occurrence510–510 Mya — about 1 occurrence510–509 Mya — about 1 occurrence509–509 Mya — about 1 occurrence509–508 Mya — about 1 occurrence508–508 Mya — about 1 occurrence508–507 Mya — about 1 occurrence507–507 Mya — about 1 occurrence507–506 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences521.5 Mya506 Mya

19 occurrences of Megapalaeolenus on record, most of them in the Cambrian. 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

19 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

4 formations

Jianchang — 41.25°N, 124.25°EJianchang — 41.25°N, 124.47°EJianchang — 41.20°N, 123.72°EJindingshan — 27.55°N, 106.23°EWangjiadian — 33.13°N, 111.47°EWangjiadian — 33.23°N, 110.88°EWulongqing — 24.95°N, 102.80°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Megapalaeolenus and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Megapalaeolenus and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

17 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Megapalaeolenus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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 19 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 content0

No picture of Megapalaeolenus was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megapalaeolenus, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Megapalaeolenus 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 itPalaeolenidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Chang 1966