Trilobatus sacculifer

Trilobatus sacculifer is a spinose planktonic foraminiferan belonging to the family Globigerinidae. It is one of the most heavily used species in paleoceanography for reconstructing past sea-surface temperatures and surface-water properties using geochemical proxies such as δ18O, Mg/Ca and boron isotopes. Although it shows considerable morphological variability, including forms with and without a distinctive sac-like final chamber, modern molecular studies indicate that all of these morphotypes belong to a single, genetically homogeneous biological species. Because of its ecological importance, long fossil record and ease of culture in the laboratory, T. sacculifer has become a model organism for studies of symbiosis, calcification, ocean acidification and the marine carbon cycle.

Trilobatus sacculifer

Haruka Takagi · CC BY 4.0 · 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
TrilobatusPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Foraminifera
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Foraminifera
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Foraminifera

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 2407 occurrencesPaleocene — about 2 of 2407 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 4 of 2407 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 2407 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 537 of 2407 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 705 of 2407 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1145 of 2407 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 8 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 12 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 29 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 27 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 36 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 96 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 178 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 311 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 661 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 1036 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

2,407 occurrences of Trilobatus sacculifer on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

2,407 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

7 formations

Gatun — 9.26°N, 79.91°WTuxpan — 20.47°N, 97.20°WCholan — 24.58°N, 121.00°EEsmeraldas — 1.00°N, 79.75°WEscudo de Veraguas — 9.10°N, 81.57°WSanta Cruz — 16.26°N, 119.92°EMikindani — 10.26°S, 40.19°E

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The named rock units Trilobatus sacculifer has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2,399 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Trilobatus sacculifer and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Trilobatus sacculifer and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

478 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 1,804 sites for Trilobatus sacculifer, 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

97 references

Each of the 2,407 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. 85 further references are not listed. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Trilobatus sacculifer

Credit
Haruka Takagi
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Trilobatus sacculifer 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 itTrilobatus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Brady 1877)