Metasequoia occidentalis

Metasequoia occidentalis is an extinct redwood species of the family Cupressaceae that is found as fossils throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of three extinct species of Metasequoia that are currently recognized as valid.

Metasequoia occidentalis

Georgialh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
MetasequoiaPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 54 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.63 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 9 of 175 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 100 of 175 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 44 of 175 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 175 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 20 of 175 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 175 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 175 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 13 occurrences64–62 Mya — about 13 occurrences62–59 Mya — about 19 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 37 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 30 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 15 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 8 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 1 occurrence45–42 Mya — about 1 occurrence42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–37 Mya — about 1 occurrence37–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences33–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–8.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences8.4–6.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.0–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences66 Mya11.63 Mya74 Mya1 Mya

175 occurrences of Metasequoia occidentalis on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

175 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

20 formations

Fort Union — 45.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.36°N, 108.06°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 108.05°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 109.03°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 44.16°N, 107.85°WFort Union — 46.52°N, 103.88°WFort Union — 46.02°N, 103.76°WFort Union — 42.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 42.28°N, 108.11°WFort Union — 41.56°N, 108.58°WFort Union — 41.33°N, 109.24°WFort Union — 41.16°N, 108.92°WFort Union — 41.14°N, 109.06°WFort Union — 47.10°N, 104.72°WFort Union — 46.92°N, 103.52°WFort Union — 46.22°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 43.88°N, 108.52°WFort Union — 46.17°N, 108.43°WFort Union — 43.90°N, 107.52°WFort Union — 48.40°N, 109.27°WFort Union — 46.00°N, 103.00°WFort Union — 45.93°N, 105.87°WFort Union — 47.22°N, 104.67°WFort Union — 45.91°N, 106.22°WFort Union — 46.58°N, 105.88°WFort Union — 46.87°N, 105.44°WFort Union — 48.18°N, 110.12°WFort Union — 48.99°N, 105.27°WFort Union — 43.93°N, 108.65°WFort Union — 47.90°N, 102.82°WFort Union — 46.92°N, 103.83°WFort Union — 47.00°N, 103.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.51°N, 108.25°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.18°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.14°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 108.10°WWillwood — 44.40°N, 108.84°WGolden Valley — 46.98°N, 102.05°WGolden Valley — 47.31°N, 102.11°WGolden Valley — 47.00°N, 101.55°WGolden Valley — 46.75°N, 102.75°WGolden Valley — 47.13°N, 101.82°WGolden Valley — 46.92°N, 102.58°WGolden Valley — 47.00°N, 102.67°WGolden Valley — 48.48°N, 102.72°WGolden Valley — 47.62°N, 102.75°WGolden Valley — 47.82°N, 102.77°WGolden Valley — 47.37°N, 103.02°WGolden Valley — 47.38°N, 103.26°WOkinoyama — 34.00°N, 131.00°EYagii — 36.08°N, 139.17°EItahana — 36.25°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.50°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.32°N, 138.85°EChallis Volcanics — 44.37°N, 114.24°WHell Creek — 46.15°N, 103.82°WHell Creek — 46.30°N, 103.89°WHell Creek — 46.32°N, 104.96°WFort Union? — 44.18°N, 108.80°WFort Union? — 43.02°N, 106.09°WPaskapoo — 54.33°N, 118.75°WPaskapoo — 54.79°N, 115.51°WWasatch — 41.16°N, 108.93°WTullock — 47.14°N, 107.33°WTullock — 45.37°N, 105.54°WWillwood Formatin — 44.35°N, 108.07°WDaido — 36.67°N, 138.83°EOgawa — 36.42°N, 138.08°ERavenscrag — 49.51°N, 109.02°WCoalmont — 40.72°N, 106.38°WBeinisvørð — 62.10°N, 7.65°WAkeyo — 35.36°N, 137.18°EAllenby — 49.45°N, 120.57°W

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The named rock units Metasequoia occidentalis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metasequoia occidentalis and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Metasequoia occidentalis and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

474 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 159 sites for Metasequoia occidentalis, 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

19 references

Each of the 175 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. 7 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 Metasequoia occidentalis

Credit
Georgialh
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itMetasequoia through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Chaney 1951