Nummulites

A nummulite is a large lenticular fossil, characterised by its numerous coils, subdivided by septa into chambers. They are the shells of the fossil and present-day marine protozoan Nummulites, a type of foraminiferan. Nummulites commonly vary in diameter from 13 to 50 mm and are common in Eocene to Miocene marine rocks, particularly around southwest Asia and the Mediterranean in the area that once constituted the Tethys Ocean, such as Eocene limestones from Egypt or from Pakistan. Fossils up to six inches wide are found in the Middle Eocene rocks of Turkey. They are valuable as index fossils.

Nummulites

Wilson44691 · Public Domain · 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
NummulitinaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Foraminifera
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Foraminifera
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Foraminifera

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 85.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 649 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 30 of 649 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 475 of 649 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 107 of 649 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 28 of 649 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 649 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 649 occurrences87–85 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences79–76 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence61–58 Mya — about 11 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 28 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 48 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 48 occurrences50–47 Mya — about 51 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 54 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 56 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 71 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 100 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 58 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 33 occurrences29–26 Mya — about 29 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 23 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 17 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–8.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.7–5.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.8–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka87 Mya0 Mya

649 occurrences of Nummulites on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

649 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

120 formations

Marne di Priabona — 45.52°N, 11.54°EMarne di Priabona — 45.43°N, 11.55°EQom Formation — 34.51°N, 50.95°EDobranberg Formation — 46.83°N, 14.53°EPrang — 25.18°N, 92.38°EPrang — 25.18°N, 91.77°EGheldeis — 10.42°N, 51.27°EGheldeis — 11.03°N, 51.03°EGheldeis — 10.28°N, 50.15°EGheldeis — 9.23°N, 50.67°EGheldeis — 9.53°N, 50.68°EGheldeis — 9.60°N, 50.78°EGheldeis — 9.75°N, 50.78°EGheldeis — 9.32°N, 50.40°EGheldeis — 7.87°N, 49.80°EGheldeis — 8.85°N, 49.32°EEl Bosque — 37.90°N, 1.57°WSelsey — 51.02°N, 1.32°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.20°WNummulitic Limestone — 43.78°N, 7.56°ENummulitic Limestone — 44.00°N, 7.74°ENummulitic Limestone — 43.96°N, 6.69°ENummulitic Limestone — 43.38°N, 6.87°ETavertet/Girona Limestone — 41.98°N, 3.20°ETavertet/Girona Limestone — 42.00°N, 2.47°EMokattam — 30.03°N, 31.26°EMokattam — 28.00°N, 30.75°EMokattam — 29.98°N, 31.13°EMokattam — 28.65°N, 30.83°EMokattam — 28.73°N, 30.92°EBarton Beds — 50.67°N, 1.57°WBarton Beds — 50.67°N, 1.08°WBarton Beds — 50.74°N, 1.69°WSubathu — 29.78°N, 78.65°ESubathu — 30.98°N, 77.02°ESinjar — 35.10°N, 45.59°ESinjar — 35.35°N, 45.42°ESinjar — 35.50°N, 45.33°ESylhet Formation — 25.26°N, 91.72°EDarnah — 32.75°N, 22.62°EBohio — 9.20°N, 79.93°WArdanatz Sandstone — 42.81°N, 1.56°WManiyara Fort — 23.46°N, 68.60°EManiyara Fort — 23.08°N, 68.70°EManiyara Fort — 23.45°N, 68.84°EKhurmala — 35.11°N, 45.82°ECalcareniti di Castelgomberto — 45.45°N, 11.58°ETaleh Zang — 33.28°N, 47.83°ETaleh Zang — 33.17°N, 47.68°ELakadong Limestone — 25.19°N, 91.76°ELakadong Limestone — 25.26°N, 91.71°ELut platform — 32.72°N, 59.24°ELut platform — 32.48°N, 59.57°ELut platform — 32.71°N, 59.29°EBirket Qarun — 29.32°N, 30.15°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.04°E

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The named rock units Nummulites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 96 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 171 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nummulites and its relatives

Eocene

Where Nummulites and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,685 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 375 sites for Nummulites, and this reads 240 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

153 references

Each of the 649 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. 141 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 Nummulites

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow 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 itNummulitinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lamarck 1801