Monticulipora

Monticulipora is an extinct genus of Ordovician bryozoans belonging to the family Monticuliporidae. It was first named in 1849, and its description was published the following year by French paleontologist Alcide M. d'Orbigny, making it one of the earliest bryozoans to be recognized in science. It is still one of the most widespread fossil bryozoan genera. Though colonies that grow in masses made of multiple layers are characteristic of the genus, its colonies have varying shapes, able to be encrusting, branching, massive, or frond-like, and are covered in monticules (bumps). Most Monticulipora species have distinctively granular walls, and Monticulipora and can be distinguished from Homotrypa by the presence of axial diaphragms.

Monticulipora

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
MonticuliporidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 68 million years on record.

The record covers at least 468 Mya to 399.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 393.47 Mya.

Ordovician — about 61 of 63 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 1 of 63 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 1 of 63 occurrencesDevonian479–476 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences476–473 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences473–470 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences470–467 Mya — about 2 occurrences467–464 Mya — about 2 occurrences464–461 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences461–458 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences458–456 Mya — about 8 occurrences456–453 Mya — about 12 occurrences453–450 Mya — about 12 occurrences450–447 Mya — about 11 occurrences447–444 Mya — about 9 occurrences444–441 Mya — about 3 occurrences441–438 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences400–398 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences398–395 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences395–392 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences468 Mya399.5 Mya479 Mya392 Mya

63 occurrences of Monticulipora 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

63 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

33 formations

Khabt-el-Hajar — 31.42°N, 4.10°WLeipers — 35.50°N, 86.50°WBromide — 34.00°N, 97.00°WPierce Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WSan Juan — 32.00°S, 69.00°WSan Juan — 30.00°S, 69.00°WStonington — 45.67°N, 86.97°WWhitewater — 39.00°N, 84.00°WWhitewater — 39.58°N, 84.75°WUllerntangen — 60.00°N, 10.00°EHermitage — 36.25°N, 83.97°WHermitage — 35.49°N, 85.26°WHolston — 35.92°N, 83.97°WHolston — 35.87°N, 84.07°WVasalemma — 59.28°N, 24.65°EVasalemma — 59.30°N, 24.65°EHolen — 57.15°N, 16.92°EHolen — 57.29°N, 16.96°ECopenhagen — 39.98°N, 116.27°WMartinsburg — 36.95°N, 81.08°WFairview — 39.00°N, 84.00°WBellevue — 39.00°N, 84.00°WCorryville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WRidley Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WLebanon Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WCatheys — 35.50°N, 86.50°WGuttenberg — 42.50°N, 91.25°WIon — 42.50°N, 91.25°WLourdes — 34.77°N, 85.40°WCliffield — 37.00°N, 81.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Monticulipora has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Monticulipora and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Monticulipora and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

746 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 51 sites for Monticulipora, 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

26 references

Each of the 63 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. 14 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 Monticulipora

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itMonticuliporidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. d'Orbigny 1850