Stigmatella

Stigmatella is an extinct genus of bryozoans in the family Heterotrypidae. It is known from the Ordovician period and found in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Its colonies can form branches, lobes, or masses made from new layers encrusting upon older ones. In Kentucky, fossil remains of species Stigmatella personata that lived in underwater caves have been found, growing 'upside-down' on the cave ceiling.

Stigmatella

Wilson44691 · CC0 · 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
HeterotrypidaePBDB
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 41 million years on record.

The record covers at least 464.3 Mya to 422.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 469.1 Mya to 419.62 Mya.

Ordovician — about 44 of 48 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 4 of 48 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 0 of 48 occurrences470–468 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences467–465 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 1 occurrence460–458 Mya — about 3 occurrences458–456 Mya — about 3 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 2 occurrences455–453 Mya — about 6 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 6 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 8 occurrences450–448 Mya — about 5 occurrences448–446 Mya — about 5 occurrences446–444 Mya — about 3 occurrences444–443 Mya — about 1 occurrence441–439 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences439–437 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences437–436 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences436–434 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences432–431 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences431–429 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences429–427 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences427–425 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences425–424 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences424–422 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences422–420 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences420–419 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences464.3 Mya422.7 Mya470 Mya419 Mya

48 occurrences of Stigmatella 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

48 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

26 formations

Lexington Limestone — 38.00°N, 84.67°WKope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WHermitage — 36.25°N, 83.97°WHermitage — 36.82°N, 84.52°WHermitage — 35.77°N, 85.01°WHermitage — 35.49°N, 85.26°WArnheim — 39.00°N, 84.00°WGuttenberg — 42.50°N, 91.25°WDecorah Shale — 42.50°N, 91.25°WDecorah Shale — 44.95°N, 93.07°WIon — 42.50°N, 91.25°WGeorgian Bay — 43.67°N, 79.42°WGabian — 43.52°N, 3.25°EFairview — 39.00°N, 84.00°WBellevue — 39.00°N, 84.00°WWaynesville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WLiberty — 39.00°N, 84.00°WFiddlers Green — 42.85°N, 78.80°WAngir — 68.00°N, 88.00°EAmarkan — 68.00°N, 88.00°EDashtygoi Beds — 51.00°N, 94.00°EStonington — 45.67°N, 86.97°WOsgood Shale — 39.00°N, 85.00°WChokusu — 49.13°N, 88.37°EMeaford — 43.57°N, 79.62°WKhabt-el-Hajar — 31.40°N, 4.10°WUggwa — 46.57°N, 13.13°EVasalemma — 59.28°N, 24.65°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Stigmatella has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stigmatella and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Stigmatella and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

651 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Stigmatella, 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

16 references

Each of the 48 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. 4 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 Stigmatella

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
CC0
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 itHeterotrypidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ulrich and Bassler 1906