Pediastrum

Pediastrum is a genus of green algae, in the family Hydrodictyaceae. It is a photoautotrophic, nonmotile coenobial green alga that inhabits freshwater environments. The name Pediastrum comes from the Greek root words pedion, meaning "plane", and astron, meaning "star", referring to its overall shape.

Pediastrum

Dr. Ralf Wagner · 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
ChlorophyceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Chlorophyta
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Chlorophyta
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Chlorophyta
Environment
lagoonal,coastal,inner shelf,marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Chlorophyta

Time the record covers

At least 251 million years on record.

The record covers at least 251.902 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 152 occurrencesPermian — about 1 of 152 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 152 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 2 of 152 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 37 of 152 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 33 of 152 occurrencesEocene — about 56 of 152 occurrencesOligocene — about 3 of 152 occurrencesMiocene — about 10 of 152 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 152 occurrencesPleistocene — about 8 of 152 occurrences305–295 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences295–285 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences285–274 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences274–264 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences264–254 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences254–244 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences132–122 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences122–112 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences112–102 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences102–91 Mya — about 8 occurrences91–81 Mya — about 1 occurrence81–71 Mya — about 6 occurrences71–61 Mya — about 52 occurrences61–51 Mya — about 15 occurrences51–41 Mya — about 23 occurrences41–30 Mya — about 22 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences20–10 Mya — about 7 occurrences10–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences251.902 Mya11.7 ka305 Mya0 Mya

152 occurrences of Pediastrum on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

152 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

29 formations

Fort Union — 46.35°N, 103.87°WFort Union — 46.02°N, 103.76°WAllen — 38.78°S, 67.93°WAllen — 38.77°S, 68.01°WBentiu — 9.35°N, 29.13°EYaw — 23.23°N, 94.25°EPuntudo Chico - La Colonia — 43.01°S, 66.47°WChenque — 45.86°S, 67.57°WChenque — 45.30°S, 69.03°WLa Colonia — 42.99°S, 67.67°WLa Colonia — 43.10°S, 67.75°WHell Creek — 46.29°N, 103.95°WHell Creek — 46.02°N, 103.76°WCullen — 53.00°S, 68.67°WCullen — 52.87°S, 68.41°WPorters Creek — 36.42°N, 89.56°WJagüel — 35.84°S, 69.67°WJandaira — 5.78°S, 37.36°WNorwich Crag — 52.31°N, 1.40°ECarbonera — 4.42°N, 73.31°WMonte León — 50.22°S, 68.59°WTalme Yafe — 31.65°N, 34.61°EPuerto Madryn — 42.57°S, 64.27°WPiedra Clavada — 49.53°S, 71.48°WDel Buey — 28.92°S, 67.52°WTunal — 25.43°S, 65.30°WLoncoche — 36.53°S, 69.82°WHuitrera — 41.04°S, 71.20°WSalamanca — 45.91°S, 69.21°WPeñas Coloradas — 45.72°S, 70.58°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pediastrum has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 63 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pediastrum and its relatives

Eocene

Where Pediastrum and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

976 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 140 sites for Pediastrum, 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

39 references

Each of the 152 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. 27 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 Pediastrum

Credit
Dr. Ralf Wagner
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itChlorophyceae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Meyen 1829