Symphysops

Symphysops is a genus of trilobites of average size, belonging to the Cyclopygidae family. It had a cosmopolitan distribution and lived from the Middle to the Upper Ordovician. It has been found in Canada, China, the Czech Republic (Bohemia), Iran, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Poland, Morocco, Spain, Scotland and Wales. The name Symphysops refers to the fused eyes, common to the species of this genus. Some (sub)species of the cyclopygid genera Cyclopyge and Pricyclopyge share this character, but Symphysops uniquely combines the merged eye with a frontal thorn on the head and the "lower eyelid".

Symphysops

Dwergenpaartje · 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
CyclopygidaePBDB
Diet
microcarnivorePBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cyclopygidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 477.1 Mya to 448.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.4 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 29 occurrencesOrdovician — about 29 of 29 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 29 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences486–484 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences484–483 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences483–481 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences481–480 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences480–478 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences478–477 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 1 occurrence460–459 Mya — about 1 occurrence459–457 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences456–454 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 1 occurrence450–448 Mya — about 5 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 6 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 6 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 2 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences477.1 Mya448.8 Mya487.3 Mya442.2 Mya

29 occurrences of Symphysops 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

29 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

11 formations

Domusnovas — 40.34°N, 8.69°EDomusnovas — 39.33°N, 8.67°EDomusnovas — 39.44°N, 8.42°EDomusnovas — 39.44°N, 8.51°EGrande Coupe — 48.54°N, 64.25°WWhite Head — 48.47°N, 64.32°WWhite Head — 48.50°N, 64.23°WKraluv Dvur — 50.00°N, 14.00°EDobrotiva — 50.03°N, 14.32°EDobrotiva — 50.10°N, 14.47°EDwyfor Mudstone — 53.00°N, 4.00°WSarka — 50.00°N, 14.00°EKaragach — 48.00°N, 80.92°EPyle Mountain Argillite — 46.68°N, 68.22°WYinchufu — 28.75°N, 118.58°EKtaoua — 31.42°N, 4.57°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Symphysops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Symphysops and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Symphysops and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

469 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Symphysops, 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 29 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 Symphysops

Credit
Dwergenpaartje
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Symphysops was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itCyclopygidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Raymond 1925