Ophiuridae

Ophiuridae are a large family of brittle stars of the suborder Ophiurina.

Ophiuridae

Hans Hillewaert · 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
OphiurinaPBDB
Diet
detritivore, suspension feederPBDB, for Ophiuroidea
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Ophiuroidea
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Ophiuroidea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Ophiuroidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Ophiuroidea

Time the record covers

At least 251 million years on record.

The record covers at least 251.902 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 254.14 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Permian — about 1 of 169 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 14 of 169 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 21 of 169 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 6 of 169 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 13 of 169 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 4 of 169 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 169 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 19 of 169 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 52 of 169 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4 of 169 occurrencesEocene — about 16 of 169 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 169 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 169 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 169 occurrencesPleistocene — about 7 of 169 occurrences259–251 Mya — about 8 occurrences251–242 Mya — about 17 occurrences242–233 Mya — about 12 occurrences233–225 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences225–216 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences216–207 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences207–199 Mya — about 4 occurrences199–190 Mya — about 3 occurrences190–181 Mya — about 6 occurrences181–173 Mya — about 5 occurrences173–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences164–156 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences156–147 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences147–138 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences138–130 Mya — about 1 occurrence130–121 Mya — about 7 occurrences121–112 Mya — about 5 occurrences112–104 Mya — about 3 occurrences104–95 Mya — about 9 occurrences95–86 Mya — about 14 occurrences86–78 Mya — about 8 occurrences78–69 Mya — about 14 occurrences69–60 Mya — about 12 occurrences60–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–43 Mya — about 6 occurrences43–35 Mya — about 9 occurrences35–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences251.902 Mya129 ka259 Mya0 Mya

169 occurrences of Ophiuridae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

169 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

51 formations

Maastricht — 50.85°N, 5.70°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 6.77°EMaastricht — 50.86°N, 5.79°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.78°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.66°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.64°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.63°WWerfen — 46.38°N, 11.85°EWerfen — 46.40°N, 11.60°EWerfen — 46.35°N, 11.87°EWerfen — 46.36°N, 11.44°ELower Chalk — 51.08°N, 1.18°ELower Chalk — 51.12°N, 1.31°ECraie de Sens — 48.20°N, 3.28°ECraie de Sens — 48.05°N, 3.32°EMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.67°EHuangzhishan — 30.92°N, 119.99°EBìlà Hora — 49.83°N, 15.25°EBìlà Hora — 49.83°N, 15.60°EBìlà Hora — 49.93°N, 15.50°EVincentown — 39.97°N, 74.68°WVincentown — 39.93°N, 74.73°WDenison — 32.79°N, 97.32°WDenison — 32.79°N, 97.24°WMiddle Lias — 52.02°N, 1.71°WUpper Chalk — 51.40°N, 0.05°EUpper Chalk — 51.43°N, 0.33°EMesilla Valley — 31.79°N, 106.54°WWellenkalk — 50.30°N, 18.97°EMuschelkalk — 41.57°N, 1.83°EMarno-calcaires à Heteraster oblongus — 38.77°N, 9.30°WGuépelle — 49.03°N, 2.37°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.06°N, 15.10°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.24°N, 14.48°ETeplice — 50.45°N, 14.05°EAtherfield Clay — 50.61°N, 1.36°WOlcese — 35.45°N, 118.87°WMuschelkalk — 52.48°N, 13.78°EWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EGulpen — 50.73°N, 5.67°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ophiuridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 27 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 65 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophiuridae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ophiuridae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

2,165 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 142 sites for Ophiuridae, 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

78 references

Each of the 169 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. 66 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 Ophiuridae

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ophiuridae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itOphiurina through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Owen 1860