Plectospira

Plectospira

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
PlectospirinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Retziidina
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Retziidina
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Retziidina
Vision
blindPBDB, for Rhynchonellata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 76 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 346.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 339.9 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 35 occurrencesSilurian — about 2 of 35 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 19 of 35 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 14 of 35 occurrencesCarboniferous445–442 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences442–438 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences438–434 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences434–431 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences431–427 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences427–424 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences424–420 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences420–417 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences417–413 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences413–409 Mya — about 2 occurrences409–406 Mya — about 1 occurrence406–402 Mya — about 1 occurrence402–399 Mya — about 1 occurrence399–395 Mya — about 2 occurrences395–392 Mya — about 4 occurrences392–388 Mya — about 6 occurrences388–384 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences359–356 Mya — about 4 occurrences356–352 Mya — about 4 occurrences352–349 Mya — about 1 occurrence349–345 Mya — about 2 occurrences345–341 Mya — about 2 occurrences341–338 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences422.7 Mya346.7 Mya445 Mya338 Mya

35 occurrences of Plectospira 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

35 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

19 formations

Chappel Limestone — 31.06°N, 99.31°WChappel Limestone — 31.20°N, 98.97°WChappel Limestone — 31.17°N, 98.69°WFort Payne Chert — 36.92°N, 84.96°WFort Payne Chert — 36.54°N, 85.16°WDaleje-Třebotov — 49.92°N, 14.07°ECelechovice Limestone — 49.57°N, 17.25°EAcanthopyge Limestone — 50.35°N, 17.13°ESuchomasty Limestone — 50.00°N, 17.00°ERockford Limestone — 38.48°N, 85.75°WLodgepole Limestone — 45.73°N, 112.00°WZlichov Limestone — 49.50°N, 14.33°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 12.93°EGarra — 32.58°S, 148.95°EYikewusu — 40.00°N, 105.00°ENandan — 24.53°N, 115.58°ETangding — 22.00°N, 108.00°ETangxiang — 22.52°N, 107.98°ESelscheid — 51.23°N, 7.97°EBurlington — 39.43°N, 91.04°WWaverley — 32.10°S, 151.13°EVaughn Gulch — 36.82°N, 118.08°W

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The named rock units Plectospira has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Plectospira and its relatives

Devonian

Where Plectospira and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

763 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Plectospira, 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 35 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 content1

Picture of Plectospira

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPlectospirinae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cooper 1942