Receptaculites

Receptaculites is the name-bearing genus for an extinct group of conspicuous benthic marine genera, the receptaculitids, that lived from the Early Ordovician through the Permian period, peaking in the Middle Ordovician. The group's phylogenetic origin has long been obscure, with some arguing that they were calcareous algae, probably of the order Dasycladales. Receptaculitids lived in warm, shallow seas, but consensus disagreeing. They have been described from all continents except Antarctica. In some areas they were important reef-formers, and they also occur as isolated specimens.

Receptaculites

Mark A. Wilson (Department of Geology, The College of Wooster) [1] · Public Domain · 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
ReceptaculitidaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Receptaculitidae
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Receptaculitidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Receptaculitidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Receptaculitidae

Time the record covers

At least 96 million years on record.

The record covers at least 471.3 Mya to 375.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 120 occurrencesOrdovician — about 99 of 120 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 4 of 120 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 17 of 120 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 120 occurrences489–485 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences485–481 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences481–476 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences476–472 Mya — about 4 occurrences472–467 Mya — about 7 occurrences467–463 Mya — about 4 occurrences463–458 Mya — about 4 occurrences458–454 Mya — about 23 occurrences454–449 Mya — about 39 occurrences449–445 Mya — about 12 occurrences445–441 Mya — about 4 occurrences441–436 Mya — about 2 occurrences436–432 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences432–427 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences427–423 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences423–418 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences418–414 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences414–410 Mya — about 2 occurrences410–405 Mya — about 1 occurrence405–401 Mya — about 1 occurrence401–396 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences396–392 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences392–387 Mya — about 1 occurrence387–383 Mya — about 1 occurrence383–378 Mya — about 2 occurrences378–374 Mya — about 3 occurrences374–370 Mya — about 2 occurrences370–365 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences365–361 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences361–356 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences471.3 Mya375.2 Mya489 Mya356 Mya

120 occurrences of Receptaculites 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

120 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

37 formations

Bad Cache Rapids — 69.21°N, 82.65°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.50°N, 81.80°WBad Cache Rapids — 69.33°N, 81.78°WBad Cache Rapids — 66.92°N, 84.00°WBad Cache Rapids — 66.85°N, 83.83°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.90°N, 82.03°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.88°N, 82.30°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.71°N, 81.94°WBad Cache Rapids — 69.00°N, 81.67°WBad Cache Rapids — 69.23°N, 82.48°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.75°N, 81.63°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.34°N, 82.37°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.36°N, 82.00°WBad Cache Rapids — 68.38°N, 82.31°WBad Cache Rapids — 69.23°N, 82.25°WWardell — 37.08°N, 81.55°WWardell — 37.10°N, 81.34°WWardell — 37.00°N, 81.00°WWardell — 37.02°N, 81.73°WWardell — 37.03°N, 81.79°WWardell — 37.06°N, 81.75°WAmadjuak — 63.72°N, 68.97°WAmadjuak — 65.25°N, 73.17°WAmadjuak — 66.00°N, 69.83°WAmadjuak — 68.80°N, 81.24°WPortage Chute — 58.00°N, 95.00°WPortage Chute — 56.50°N, 94.25°WPortage Chute — 58.50°N, 95.00°WBobcaygeon — 44.67°N, 78.80°WBobcaygeon — 44.53°N, 78.55°WCliffield — 37.00°N, 81.00°WCliffield — 37.08°N, 81.55°WCliffield — 37.10°N, 81.34°WGarden City — 41.83°N, 111.60°WGarden City — 41.52°N, 111.94°WGarden City — 40.89°N, 112.82°WAntelope Valley — 36.33°N, 116.97°WAntelope Valley — 36.39°N, 116.96°WLangara — 60.00°N, 11.00°ELangara — 59.88°N, 10.59°EKoh-e Giru — 33.98°N, 68.05°EKoh-e Giru — 33.87°N, 67.93°EZebra Cliffs — 82.75°N, 76.90°WZebra Cliffs — 82.74°N, 76.80°WFillmore Limestone — 39.89°N, 113.37°WFillmore Limestone — 38.84°N, 113.46°WKanosh Shale — 38.60°N, 113.75°WKanosh Shale — 38.87°N, 113.42°WIrene Bay — 74.98°N, 95.88°WIrene Bay — 75.46°N, 96.14°WLangoyen — 59.88°N, 10.59°EAmherstburg — 43.98°N, 81.28°WFremont — 38.00°N, 105.00°WWuLigMeiTag — 41.00°N, 86.00°EFoster Bay — 73.00°N, 78.00°WWalker Volcanics — 35.00°S, 149.00°EAkpatok — 65.25°N, 73.17°WRed River — 50.08°N, 96.70°WTaemas — 35.00°S, 149.00°EBelen — 15.50°S, 68.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Receptaculites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Receptaculites and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Receptaculites and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

978 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 109 sites for Receptaculites, 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

42 references

Each of the 120 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. 30 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 Receptaculites

Credit
Mark A. Wilson (Department of Geology, The College of Wooster) [1]
Licence
Public Domain
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 and MorphoSource were 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 itReceptaculitidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Defrance 1827