Stringocephalus

Stringocephalus is an extinct genus of large brachiopods; between 388.1 to 376.1 million years old they are usually found as fossils in Devonian marine rocks. Several forms of the genus are known; they may be found in western North America, northern Europe, Asia and the Canning Basin of Western Australia. Several different types are known; they share a well-developed, curved structure shaped like a beak. Some of the largest specimens discovered to date have been found in China.

Stringocephalus

Atamari · 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
StringocephalinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Terebratulida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Terebratulida
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Terebratulida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Rhynchonellata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 5.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 387.95 Mya to 382.31 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 393.47 Mya to 372.15 Mya.

Devonian — about 126 of 126 occurrencesDevonian394–393 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences393–392 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences392–392 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences392–391 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences391–390 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences390–390 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences390–389 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences389–388 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 14 occurrences387–387 Mya — about 16 occurrences387–386 Mya — about 15 occurrences386–385 Mya — about 13 occurrences385–384 Mya — about 13 occurrences384–384 Mya — about 13 occurrences384–383 Mya — about 18 occurrences383–382 Mya — about 13 occurrences382–381 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences381–381 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences381–380 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences380–379 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences379–378 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences378–378 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences378–377 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences377–376 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences376–375 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences375–375 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences375–374 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences374–373 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences373–372 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences372–372 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences387.95 Mya382.31 Mya394 Mya371.6 Mya

126 occurrences of Stringocephalus 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

126 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

44 formations

Donggangling — 22.39°N, 107.55°EDonggangling — 24.10°N, 109.98°EDonggangling — 24.98°N, 109.98°EDonggangling — 24.45°N, 108.30°EWinnipegosis — 52.81°N, 100.84°WWinnipegosis — 52.97°N, 100.90°WWinnipegosis — 52.83°N, 100.74°WWinnipegosis — 52.81°N, 100.86°WWinnipegosis — 51.58°N, 99.54°WMassenkalk — 51.40°N, 7.88°EMassenkalk — 51.15°N, 7.95°EMassenkalk — 51.00°N, 7.17°EBlacourt — 50.83°N, 1.77°EBlacourt — 46.00°N, 2.00°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.37°EKowala — 50.93°N, 20.53°EKowala — 50.63°N, 21.37°EKowala — 50.77°N, 20.72°EKowala — 50.88°N, 20.57°EQiziqiao — 27.83°N, 111.58°EQiziqiao — 27.40°N, 111.27°ERamparts — 66.23°N, 128.71°WRamparts — 66.44°N, 125.67°WRamparts — 64.84°N, 128.41°WBrilon Massenkalk — 51.45°N, 8.63°EWadleigh Limestone — 55.53°N, 133.15°WWadleigh Limestone — 55.43°N, 133.10°WLost Burro — 36.33°N, 116.52°WLost Burro — 36.35°N, 116.98°WUnterhonsel — 51.36°N, 7.70°EUnterhonsel — 51.40°N, 7.81°EBroken River — 19.50°S, 145.00°ELoogh — 50.48°N, 6.73°ELoogh — 50.22°N, 6.67°EQuy Dat — 17.90°N, 105.82°EDewal — 33.75°N, 68.03°EAïn Khira — 33.72°N, 7.02°WIza — 41.26°N, 64.79°EHagen-Balve — 51.40°N, 7.81°EHagen-Balve — 51.37°N, 7.86°EDawson Bay — 51.61°N, 99.80°WTongkangling — 27.52°N, 108.33°EHeitai — 45.55°N, 131.95°EChernaya Bay Horizon — 72.00°N, 52.00°EGuanwushan — 32.33°N, 104.51°EChercombe Bridge Limestone — 50.53°N, 3.65°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Stringocephalus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stringocephalus and its relatives

Devonian

Where Stringocephalus and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

495 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 72 sites for Stringocephalus, 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

53 references

Each of the 126 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. 41 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 Stringocephalus

Credit
Atamari
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

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 itStringocephalinae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.