Westonoceras

Westonoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the Discosorida that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician that has been found in North America, Greenland, and Northern Europe. It is the type genus for the Westonoceratidae

Westonoceras

via iDigBio · via iDigBio. 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
WestonoceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cephalopoda
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Discosorida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Discosorida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Discosorida

Time the record covers

At least 18 million years on record.

The record covers at least 468 Mya to 449.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Ordovician — about 62 of 62 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 62 occurrences478–477 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences477–475 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences475–474 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences474–473 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences473–472 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences470–468 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences467–466 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences465–464 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences464–462 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences462–461 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences459–458 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 2 occurrences457–455 Mya — about 2 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 2 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 3 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 3 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 9 occurrences451–449 Mya — about 15 occurrences449–448 Mya — about 8 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 5 occurrences447–446 Mya — about 5 occurrences446–445 Mya — about 2 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences468 Mya449.2 Mya477.8 Mya442.4 Mya

62 occurrences of Westonoceras 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

62 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

17 formations

Dunleith — 43.00°N, 91.00°WWise Lake — 43.00°N, 91.00°WAmadjuak — 63.72°N, 68.97°WAmadjuak — 65.25°N, 73.17°WAmadjuak — 68.77°N, 81.22°WStewartville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WStewartville — 43.50°N, 94.00°WPortage Chute — 58.00°N, 95.00°WPortage Chute — 56.50°N, 94.25°WPortage Chute — 58.50°N, 95.00°WProsser Limestone — 45.00°N, 93.00°WCape Calhoun — 80.08°N, 67.00°WRed River — 50.00°N, 100.00°WRed River — 52.06°N, 97.44°WKope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WCummingsville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WNelson River Limestone — 57.07°N, 92.50°WShamattawa Limestone — 52.00°N, 102.00°WFremont — 38.50°N, 105.17°WBighorn — 44.00°N, 109.00°WWhitewood Limestone — 44.00°N, 103.00°WGrimsøya — 59.91°N, 10.72°EHusbergøya — 59.85°N, 10.52°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Westonoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Westonoceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Westonoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

303 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 38 sites for Westonoceras, 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

10 references

Each of the 62 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. 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 Westonoceras

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itWestonoceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Foerste 1924