Paraspirifer

Paraspirifer is a genus of large brachiopods that lived during the late Lower and Middle Devonian in what now are Germany, Spain, Morocco and the United States.

Paraspirifer

Dwergenpaartje · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
HysterolitinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Spiriferida
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Spiriferida
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Spiriferida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Rhynchonellata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 399.5 Mya to 382.31 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 413.02 Mya to 372.15 Mya.

Devonian — about 39 of 39 occurrencesDevonian414–412 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences412–411 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences411–410 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences410–408 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences408–407 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences407–405 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences405–404 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences404–403 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences403–401 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences401–400 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences400–398 Mya — about 1 occurrence398–397 Mya — about 1 occurrence397–395 Mya — about 1 occurrence395–394 Mya — about 1 occurrence394–393 Mya — about 2 occurrences393–391 Mya — about 3 occurrences391–390 Mya — about 2 occurrences390–388 Mya — about 2 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 4 occurrences387–386 Mya — about 4 occurrences386–384 Mya — about 4 occurrences384–383 Mya — about 4 occurrences383–381 Mya — about 1 occurrence381–380 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences380–378 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences378–377 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences377–376 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences376–374 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences374–373 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences373–371 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences399.5 Mya382.31 Mya413.8 Mya371.3 Mya

39 occurrences of Paraspirifer on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

39 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

18 formations

Silica — 41.72°N, 83.72°WSilica — 42.13°N, 83.60°WSilica — 42.33°N, 83.03°WSkaneateles — 42.90°N, 75.60°WSkaneateles — 42.79°N, 75.27°WSkaneateles — 42.85°N, 75.18°WSkaneateles — 42.81°N, 74.94°WMahantango — 40.50°N, 77.25°WMahantango — 40.33°N, 76.92°WObotanhondi — 45.55°N, 116.83°EFloresta-Labateca — 5.85°N, 72.88°WMonforte — 41.13°N, 1.07°WLauch — 50.17°N, 6.43°ELauch — 50.33°N, 6.75°EJeffersonville Limestone — 38.50°N, 85.75°WBelovo Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°ECano Grande — 10.50°N, 72.50°WCano del Oeste — 10.50°N, 72.50°WCastellar — 41.13°N, 1.07°WRamblar — 41.13°N, 1.07°WMolino — 41.13°N, 1.07°WMoyuela — 41.13°N, 1.07°WAnderdon Limestone — 43.04°N, 80.86°WOued Kibane — 32.67°N, 7.67°WHobracke — 51.23°N, 7.82°E

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The named rock units Paraspirifer has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paraspirifer and its relatives

Devonian

Where Paraspirifer and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

508 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Paraspirifer, 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

18 references

Each of the 39 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. 6 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 content3

Picture of Paraspirifer

Credit
Dwergenpaartje
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
paraspirifer sp. · MST:PALEO:MST-SP-7002

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itHysterolitinae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.