Olenellus

Olenellus is an extinct genus of redlichiid trilobites, with species of average size. It lived during the Botomian and Toyonian stages of the Lower Cambrian (Olenellus-zone), 522 to 510 million years ago, in what is currently North America, part of the palaeocontinent Laurentia.

Olenellus

Jonathan Chen · 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
OlenellinaePBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Redlichiida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Redlichiida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Redlichiida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Olenellidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 516 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 353 of 353 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 353 occurrences540–538 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences538–536 Mya — about 2 occurrences536–534 Mya — about 2 occurrences534–533 Mya — about 2 occurrences533–531 Mya — about 2 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 2 occurrences529–527 Mya — about 2 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 2 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 2 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 2 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 3 occurrences520–518 Mya — about 4 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 4 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 39 occurrences515–513 Mya — about 97 occurrences513–511 Mya — about 97 occurrences511–509 Mya — about 74 occurrences509–507 Mya — about 8 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 5 occurrences506–504 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences504–502 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences502–500 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences500–498 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences497–495 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences495–493 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences493–491 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences491–489 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences516 Mya497 Mya540 Mya486 Mya

353 occurrences of Olenellus 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

353 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

35 formations

Carrara — 35.85°N, 116.23°WCarrara — 37.35°N, 116.13°WCarrara — 37.45°N, 115.73°WCarrara — 36.67°N, 116.32°WCarrara — 36.75°N, 117.07°WCarrara — 36.47°N, 116.75°WCarrara — 36.48°N, 116.73°WCarrara — 36.20°N, 116.35°WCarrara — 36.08°N, 116.23°WCarrara — 36.15°N, 116.97°WCarrara — 36.38°N, 116.60°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.31°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.41°WKinzers — 40.00°N, 76.73°WKinzers — 40.44°N, 75.12°WKinzers — 40.05°N, 76.36°WKinzers — 39.98°N, 76.76°WKinzers — 40.12°N, 76.33°WPioche — 36.19°N, 115.01°WPioche — 37.80°N, 114.57°WPioche — 40.64°N, 111.69°WPioche Shale — 36.19°N, 115.01°WPioche Shale — 37.77°N, 114.56°WPioche Shale — 37.61°N, 114.76°WPioche Shale — 37.53°N, 114.73°WPioche Shale — 40.00°N, 115.00°WPioche Shale — 37.94°N, 114.50°WSekwi — 63.52°N, 128.68°WSekwi — 63.58°N, 129.20°WSekwi — 63.37°N, 129.13°WForteau — 51.56°N, 56.75°WForteau — 51.02°N, 57.00°WForteau — 51.02°N, 56.81°WForteau — 51.46°N, 56.86°WForteau — 51.02°N, 56.61°WForteau — 51.07°N, 56.69°WForteau — 50.98°N, 56.32°WForteau — 51.53°N, 56.82°WForteau — 51.47°N, 56.97°WForteau — 50.66°N, 57.04°WForteau — 50.65°N, 57.05°WForteau — 50.62°N, 57.16°WHarkless — 37.52°N, 117.53°WHarkless — 37.36°N, 117.36°WHarkless — 37.78°N, 117.75°WHarkless — 37.87°N, 117.86°WHarkless — 37.87°N, 117.84°WHarkless — 37.32°N, 117.77°WHarkless — 37.70°N, 117.47°WHarkless — 37.40°N, 117.28°WLatham — 34.54°N, 115.48°WLatham — 34.58°N, 115.52°WLatham — 35.00°N, 115.53°WIlltyd — 65.09°N, 134.71°WParker Slate — 44.48°N, 73.21°WParker Slate — 44.74°N, 73.16°WStissing — 42.41°N, 73.53°WZabriskie Quartzite — 35.85°N, 116.23°WCadiz — 34.54°N, 115.48°WKap Troedsson — 81.74°N, 44.43°WKap Troedsson — 81.72°N, 44.60°WMount Clark — 64.94°N, 127.26°WMount Clark — 64.48°N, 126.79°WEmigrant — 37.72°N, 117.44°WEmigrant — 37.71°N, 117.45°WPoleta — 37.50°N, 117.50°WPoleta — 37.86°N, 117.86°WSofiekammen — 76.85°N, 15.95°ESofiekammen — 76.90°N, 15.98°ESt. Piran Sandstone — 52.83°N, 119.25°WShady — 36.85°N, 80.91°WShady — 36.85°N, 80.90°WHess River — 64.72°N, 131.65°WMural — 53.03°N, 119.23°WMule Spring Limestone — 37.71°N, 117.45°WMount Cap — 67.24°N, 126.31°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Olenellus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Olenellus and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Olenellus and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

302 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 164 sites for Olenellus, 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

58 references

Each of the 353 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. 46 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 Olenellus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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

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 itOlenellinae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hall 1861)