Ophiceras

Ophiceras is an extinct genus of smooth, evolute ceratitid ammonites from the Griesbachian, with a rounded venter. Fossils of the genus have been found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Greenland, and India.

Ophiceras

Jonathan Chen · CC BY 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
OphiceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ceratitida
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ceratitida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ceratitida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 254.14 Mya to 250.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 259.857 Mya to 241.464 Mya.

Permian — about 2 of 354 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 351 of 354 occurrencesEarly TriassicMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 354 occurrencesMiddle Triassic260–260 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences260–259 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences259–258 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences258–258 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences258–257 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences257–256 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences256–256 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences256–255 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences255–255 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences255–254 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences254–253 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences253–253 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences253–252 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences252–251 Mya — about 245 occurrences251–251 Mya — about 94 occurrences251–250 Mya — about 3 occurrences250–249 Mya — about 3 occurrences249–249 Mya — about 3 occurrences249–248 Mya — about 1 occurrence248–247 Mya — about 1 occurrence247–247 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences247–246 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–245 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences245–244 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences244–244 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences244–243 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences243–242 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences242–242 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences242–241 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences254.14 Mya250.8 Mya260.4 Mya241 Mya

354 occurrences of Ophiceras on record, most of them in the Early Triassic. 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

354 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

31 formations

Wordie Creek — 71.73°N, 22.87°WWordie Creek — 71.73°N, 23.87°WWordie Creek — 71.68°N, 22.75°WWordie Creek — 71.00°N, 23.00°WWordie Creek — 73.88°N, 21.42°WWordie Creek — 73.85°N, 21.38°WWordie Creek — 72.41°N, 23.49°WWordie Creek — 72.07°N, 23.75°WWordie Creek — 72.06°N, 23.87°WWordie Creek — 72.18°N, 24.02°WWordie Creek — 71.70°N, 22.62°WWordie Creek — 74.03°N, 21.60°WWordie Creek — 74.01°N, 21.54°WWordie Creek — 73.99°N, 21.42°WWordie Creek — 74.15°N, 21.00°WWordie Creek — 71.60°N, 22.70°WWordie Creek — 71.60°N, 22.40°WDaye — 30.16°N, 115.14°EDaye — 30.17°N, 114.76°EDaye — 30.30°N, 106.85°EDaye — 32.99°N, 107.92°EDaye — 29.71°N, 113.93°EDaye — 26.67°N, 106.23°EDaye — 26.58°N, 106.62°EDaye — 26.54°N, 106.68°EDaye — 26.51°N, 106.87°EDaye — 30.17°N, 109.00°EKangshare — 28.27°N, 86.97°EKangshare — 28.66°N, 85.82°EKangshare — 28.57°N, 85.96°EKangshare — 28.31°N, 86.83°EMianwali — 32.55°N, 71.78°EMianwali — 32.55°N, 71.80°EMianwali — 32.81°N, 71.64°EMianwali — 32.45°N, 72.04°EMianwali — 32.52°N, 72.10°EMianwali — 32.46°N, 72.19°EMianwali — 32.24°N, 71.05°EMianwali — 32.20°N, 70.91°EMianwali — 32.66°N, 71.79°EBlind Fiord — 80.67°N, 95.50°WBlind Fiord — 78.38°N, 85.97°WBlind Fiord — 80.52°N, 94.63°WBlind Fiord — 80.55°N, 95.38°WKhunamuh — 34.00°N, 75.00°EKhunamuh — 34.08°N, 74.98°EYinkeng — 30.87°N, 120.10°EYinkeng — 30.92°N, 119.99°EYinkeng — 31.08°N, 119.71°EYinkeng — 31.64°N, 117.85°EFeixianguan — 32.31°N, 105.46°EFeixianguan — 26.33°N, 105.93°EFeixianguan — 32.95°N, 107.82°EFeixianguan — 32.62°N, 105.86°EFeixianguan — 30.13°N, 106.45°EKarabaglyar — 39.56°N, 45.21°EKarabaglyar — 39.45°N, 45.23°EKarabaglyar — 39.53°N, 45.37°ELuolou — 24.65°N, 106.83°ELuolou — 24.40°N, 106.30°EKayitou — 25.66°N, 104.42°EKayitou — 26.73°N, 104.44°EVikinghogda — 78.30°N, 16.71°EVikinghogda — 78.29°N, 16.56°EElikah — 30.89°N, 53.21°EIvishak — 69.30°N, 146.37°WPhrae That — 18.70°N, 99.89°EKarabaglyar — 39.54°N, 45.43°ENekuchan — 63.10°N, 139.14°EVardebukta — 78.50°N, 22.00°EVardebukta — 78.10°N, 13.84°EUnion Wash — 36.70°N, 118.03°WSong Sai Gon — 11.50°N, 106.50°ERuiping — 30.09°N, 108.61°EBayankalashan — 34.97°N, 98.28°ENarabara — 35.37°N, 135.18°EWargal — 32.26°N, 71.10°E

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The named rock units Ophiceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 72 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophiceras and its relatives

Early Triassic

Where Ophiceras and its relatives were recorded in the Early Triassic.

Found in the same rock

365 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 268 sites for Ophiceras, 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

56 references

Each of the 354 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. 44 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 content1

Picture of Ophiceras

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itOphiceratidae through timeFormations of the Early TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Griesbach 1880