Prasopora

Prasopora is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the family Monticuliporidae, known from the Middle Ordovician. Its colonies were disc-shaped or hemispherical, flat on bottom and convex on top, and had very abundant mesopores; in the case of the species P. insularis its zooecia were isolated from each other by the numerous mesopores surrounding them. It is very similar to the genus Monticulipora, and some bryozoan species have been assigned to both genera at different points in their study, but it is mostly distinguished by having more mesozooecia, rounder autozooecial apertures, relatively few acanthostyles and diaphragms and cystiphragms equally distributed in the autozooecia.

Prasopora

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
MonticuliporidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Bryozoa
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Vision
blindPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 25 million years on record.

The record covers at least 458.2 Mya to 432.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 426.7 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 276 occurrencesOrdovician — about 274 of 276 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 2 of 276 occurrencesSilurian488–486 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences486–484 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences484–482 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences482–480 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences480–478 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences478–476 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences476–473 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences473–471 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences469–467 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences467–465 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences463–461 Mya — about 2 occurrences461–459 Mya — about 13 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 27 occurrences457–455 Mya — about 52 occurrences455–453 Mya — about 71 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 72 occurrences451–448 Mya — about 17 occurrences448–446 Mya — about 10 occurrences446–444 Mya — about 5 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences442–440 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences440–438 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences438–436 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences436–434 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences432–430 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences430–428 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences428–425 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences458.2 Mya432.9 Mya488 Mya425 Mya

276 occurrences of Prasopora on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

276 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

58 formations

Lexington Limestone — 38.00°N, 85.00°WLexington Limestone — 38.00°N, 84.67°WLexington Limestone — 38.22°N, 84.86°WLexington Limestone — 38.34°N, 84.85°WLexington Limestone — 37.84°N, 84.59°WLexington Limestone — 37.68°N, 84.76°WLexington Limestone — 37.92°N, 84.50°WDenley Limestone — 43.21°N, 75.46°WDenley Limestone — 43.00°N, 76.00°WDenley Limestone — 44.00°N, 75.00°WDenley Limestone — 43.28°N, 75.14°WDenley Limestone — 43.88°N, 75.49°WMartinsburg — 36.95°N, 81.08°WMartinsburg — 37.38°N, 80.86°WMartinsburg — 36.90°N, 81.53°WMartinsburg — 37.35°N, 80.81°WHermitage — 35.80°N, 86.12°WHermitage — 36.12°N, 86.67°WHermitage — 35.50°N, 86.50°WHermitage — 36.00°N, 83.00°WHermitage — 36.25°N, 83.97°WHermitage — 36.82°N, 84.52°WHermitage — 36.29°N, 85.99°WVerulam — 44.75°N, 79.33°WVerulam — 44.60°N, 78.97°WVerulam — 44.50°N, 78.58°WVerulam — 44.50°N, 78.67°WVerulam — 44.43°N, 78.78°WTrenton — 36.70°N, 83.29°WCatheys — 35.50°N, 86.50°WCatheys — 36.29°N, 85.99°WCatheys — 36.35°N, 85.79°WCatheys — 36.45°N, 85.58°WCatheys — 36.37°N, 85.65°WCatheys — 36.37°N, 85.64°WWaynesville — 39.08°N, 85.25°WWaynesville — 41.00°N, 86.69°WFfairfach Flags and Grits — 52.00°N, 4.00°WBobcaygeon — 44.56°N, 78.98°WBobcaygeon — 44.53°N, 78.55°WBigby-Cannon Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WFfairfach Ashes and Lavas — 52.00°N, 4.00°WCopenhagen — 39.98°N, 116.27°WLiberty — 41.00°N, 86.69°WLiberty — 38.20°N, 85.57°WCummingsville — 44.00°N, 92.45°WCummingsville — 44.50°N, 92.90°WCummingsville — 43.50°N, 91.50°WDecorah Shale — 42.50°N, 91.25°WSugar River Limestone — 43.00°N, 76.00°WSugar River Limestone — 44.00°N, 75.00°WSugar River Limestone — 43.00°N, 75.00°WGlauzy — 43.00°N, 3.00°EGlauzy — 43.53°N, 3.30°EKhabt-el-Hajar — 31.40°N, 4.10°WKings Falls — 43.21°N, 75.46°WFossil Hill Limestone — 34.00°S, 148.00°EDaylesford Limestone — 33.00°S, 149.00°EGelli-Grin — 53.00°N, 4.00°WGuttenberg — 42.50°N, 91.25°W

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The named rock units Prasopora has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 34 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Prasopora and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Prasopora and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

935 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 258 sites for Prasopora, 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

44 references

Each of the 276 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. 32 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 Prasopora

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

3D model

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

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 itMonticuliporidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Nicholson and Etheridge 1877