Perisphinctes

Perisphinctes is an extinct genus of ammonite cephalopod. They lived during the Middle to Late Jurassic epochs and serve as an index fossil for that time period. The species P. boweni was named after the English chemist and geologist E. J. Bowen (1898–1980).

Perisphinctes

Masur · 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
PerisphinctinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ammonoidea
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 174.7 Mya to 145.06 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 141 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 495 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 495 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 21 of 495 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 472 of 495 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 495 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences201–198 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences198–196 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences196–194 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–184 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–182 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences182–180 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences180–177 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences177–175 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences175–173 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences173–171 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences171–169 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences169–167 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences167–165 Mya — about 3 occurrences165–163 Mya — about 11 occurrences163–161 Mya — about 31 occurrences161–159 Mya — about 113 occurrences159–157 Mya — about 173 occurrences157–154 Mya — about 76 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 36 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 17 occurrences150–148 Mya — about 12 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 8 occurrences146–144 Mya — about 9 occurrences144–142 Mya — about 4 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences174.7 Mya145.06 Mya203 Mya140 Mya

495 occurrences of Perisphinctes on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. 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

495 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

59 formations

Yatova — 40.98°N, 0.62°W"Hartmannshof" — 49.23°N, 11.47°ELa Manga — 37.23°S, 70.37°WLa Manga — 37.00°S, 71.00°WLa Manga — 37.45°S, 70.43°WLa Manga — 37.00°S, 70.00°WLa Manga — 36.83°S, 71.00°WLa Manga — 34.50°S, 70.00°WLa Manga — 36.21°S, 69.69°WLa Manga — 36.21°S, 69.87°WAgardhfjellet — 78.10°N, 13.89°EJubaila Lst. — 24.84°N, 46.25°EJubaila Lst. — 22.63°N, 46.47°EJubaila Lst. — 22.37°N, 46.53°EJubaila Lst. — 25.33°N, 46.15°EMarnes de Latrecey — 47.98°N, 4.85°EHabo beds — 23.20°N, 69.80°EMariposa — 38.89°N, 120.92°WMariposa — 38.76°N, 120.80°WMariposa — 38.10°N, 120.66°WMariposa — 37.98°N, 120.56°WMariposa — 37.98°N, 120.52°WMariposa — 37.54°N, 120.09°WMariposa — 38.50°N, 121.01°WCalcaires argileux de Bonnevaux — 47.13°N, 6.15°EArimine — 36.51°N, 137.47°EGerpigem — 44.27°N, 40.17°EGerpigem — 44.08°N, 40.93°EGerpigem — 44.08°N, 40.95°EKatrol — 23.50°N, 70.50°ECouches à Spérites — 47.98°N, 4.85°EJubaila — 22.73°N, 46.85°EJubaila — 24.26°N, 46.76°EJubaila — 23.27°N, 46.76°EJubaila — 20.14°N, 45.42°ELotena — 37.00°S, 70.50°WLotena — 37.45°S, 70.43°WLotena — 37.00°S, 71.00°WLotena — 35.18°S, 70.35°WAntalo — 14.46°N, 40.90°EWagad Sandstone — 23.49°N, 70.49°E"Sengenthal" — 49.23°N, 11.47°EMadbi — 14.27°N, 48.57°ETrigonia clavellata — 50.80°N, 2.28°WAbadia — 38.93°N, 9.00°WRosso Ammonitico — 38.00°N, 12.00°EL'Ammonitico Rosso Inférieur — 35.68°N, 0.92°WWashtawa — 23.48°N, 70.46°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Perisphinctes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 35 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 298 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Perisphinctes and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Perisphinctes and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

904 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 210 sites for Perisphinctes, 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

75 references

Each of the 495 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. 63 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 Perisphinctes

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPerisphinctinae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Waagen 1869)