Ophiuroidea

Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens.

Ophiuroidea

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
Also called
brittle starPBDB
Sits inside
AsterozoaPBDB
Diet
detritivore, suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
slow-movingPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 471 million years on record.

The record covers at least 471.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Ordovician — about 31 of 1147 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 28 of 1147 occurrencesDevonian — about 123 of 1147 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 61 of 1147 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 22 of 1147 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 36 of 1147 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 52 of 1147 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 49 of 1147 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 114 of 1147 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 87 of 1147 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 92 of 1147 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 44 of 1147 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 327 of 1147 occurrencesPaleocene — about 19 of 1147 occurrencesEocene — about 20 of 1147 occurrencesOligocene — about 5 of 1147 occurrencesMiocene — about 26 of 1147 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 1147 occurrencesPleistocene — about 8 of 1147 occurrences487–470 Mya — about 1 occurrence470–454 Mya — about 7 occurrences454–438 Mya — about 24 occurrences438–422 Mya — about 24 occurrences422–406 Mya — about 28 occurrences406–389 Mya — about 41 occurrences389–373 Mya — about 36 occurrences373–357 Mya — about 23 occurrences357–341 Mya — about 17 occurrences341–324 Mya — about 39 occurrences324–308 Mya — about 3 occurrences308–292 Mya — about 2 occurrences292–276 Mya — about 8 occurrences276–260 Mya — about 9 occurrences260–243 Mya — about 57 occurrences243–227 Mya — about 54 occurrences227–211 Mya — about 3 occurrences211–195 Mya — about 47 occurrences195–178 Mya — about 85 occurrences178–162 Mya — about 93 occurrences162–146 Mya — about 88 occurrences146–130 Mya — about 15 occurrences130–114 Mya — about 26 occurrences114–97 Mya — about 22 occurrences97–81 Mya — about 83 occurrences81–65 Mya — about 238 occurrences65–49 Mya — about 17 occurrences49–32 Mya — about 18 occurrences32–16 Mya — about 13 occurrences16–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences471.3 Mya129 ka487 Mya0 Mya

1,147 occurrences of Ophiuroidea 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

1,147 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

233 formations

Gulpen — 50.73°N, 5.67°EGulpen — 50.75°N, 5.67°EWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.70°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 6.77°EMaastricht — 50.86°N, 5.79°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.78°EBangor Limestone — 34.59°N, 87.63°WBangor Limestone — 34.52°N, 87.58°WHunsrück Slate — 49.89°N, 7.47°EHunsrück Slate — 49.83°N, 7.37°EBìlà Hora — 49.83°N, 15.25°EBìlà Hora — 49.93°N, 15.50°EBìlà Hora — 49.83°N, 15.60°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.37°EKowala — 50.88°N, 20.57°EKowala — 50.85°N, 20.82°EKowala — 50.82°N, 20.58°EKowala — 50.80°N, 20.47°ERenggeri-Ton — 46.83°N, 5.97°ERenggeri-Ton — 45.95°N, 5.55°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.66°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.64°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.63°WSan Cassiano — 46.53°N, 11.42°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.06°N, 15.10°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.24°N, 14.48°EEffinger Schichten — 47.26°N, 7.52°ELower Chalk — 51.08°N, 1.18°ELower Chalk — 51.12°N, 1.31°EBridport Sand — 50.71°N, 2.76°WTeplice — 50.45°N, 14.05°EBig Clifty — 38.24°N, 86.49°WMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.67°EVoorstehoek — 33.50°S, 19.82°EVoorstehoek — 33.36°S, 19.51°EVoorstehoek — 33.00°S, 20.00°EVoorstehoek — 33.40°S, 19.90°ECraie de Sens — 48.20°N, 3.28°ECraie de Sens — 48.05°N, 3.32°ECraie de Sens — 48.30°N, 3.23°EPonta Grossa — 26.07°S, 52.58°WPonta Grossa — 25.08°S, 50.15°WPonta Grossa — 24.50°S, 50.40°WPonta Grossa — 25.43°S, 50.40°WWerfen — 46.38°N, 11.85°EWerfen — 46.40°N, 11.60°EWerfen — 46.35°N, 11.87°EWerfen — 46.36°N, 11.44°ESzin Marl — 48.47°N, 20.68°ENeuburger Bank-Kalken — 47.67°N, 15.58°ENayband — 32.93°N, 52.03°ENayband — 31.15°N, 52.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ophiuroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 209 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 456 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ophiuroidea and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

2,761 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 584 sites for Ophiuroidea, 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

304 references

Each of the 1,147 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. 292 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 Ophiuroidea

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itAsterozoa through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gray 1840)