Zacanthoides

Zacanthoides is an extinct Cambrian genus of corynexochid trilobite. It was a nektobenthic predatory carnivore. Its remains have been found in Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the United States. Its major characteristics are a slender exoskeleton with 9 thoracic segments, pleurae with long spines, additional spines on the axial rings, and a pygidium that is considerably smaller than its cephalon.

Zacanthoides

C.D. Walcott · Public Domain · 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
ZacanthoididaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Corynexochida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Corynexochida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Corynexochida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Zacanthoididae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 509.7 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 515.3 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 89 of 89 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 89 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences515–514 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences514–513 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences513–512 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences511–510 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences510–509 Mya — about 7 occurrences509–508 Mya — about 10 occurrences508–507 Mya — about 16 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 18 occurrences506–505 Mya — about 18 occurrences505–504 Mya — about 8 occurrences504–503 Mya — about 1 occurrence503–502 Mya — about 1 occurrence502–501 Mya — about 1 occurrence501–500 Mya — about 1 occurrence500–499 Mya — about 1 occurrence499–498 Mya — about 1 occurrence498–497 Mya — about 1 occurrence497–496 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences496–495 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences495–494 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences494–493 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences493–492 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences492–491 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences491–490 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences490–489 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences488–487 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences509.7 Mya497 Mya515.9 Mya486.3 Mya

89 occurrences of Zacanthoides on record, most of them in the Cambrian. 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

89 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

28 formations

Shallow Bay — 49.25°N, 65.57°WTrailer — 39.88°N, 113.05°WLead Bell Shale — 42.00°N, 112.00°WUte — 42.19°N, 112.25°WUte — 42.29°N, 111.50°WUte — 41.57°N, 112.05°WPioche Shale — 37.52°N, 114.79°WPioche Shale — 37.85°N, 114.60°WPioche Shale — 37.85°N, 114.60°WPioche Shale — 40.00°N, 115.00°WCarrara — 39.16°N, 119.83°WCarrara — 37.45°N, 115.73°WCarrara — 36.75°N, 117.07°WLangston — 42.19°N, 112.25°WLangston — 41.97°N, 111.70°WPole Canyon — 38.83°N, 114.33°WStephen — 52.83°N, 119.25°WStephen — 51.40°N, 116.48°WWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 111.59°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WSwasey Limestone — 39.54°N, 112.92°WSwasey Limestone — 38.83°N, 114.33°WBurgess Shale — 51.39°N, 116.43°WAlojamiento — 32.07°S, 69.08°WAlojamiento — 32.22°S, 69.08°WSan Isidro — 32.86°S, 69.00°WHess River — 64.53°N, 129.77°WHenson Gletscher — 80.25°N, 62.50°WArrojos — 30.42°N, 111.93°WHillard Limestone — 64.95°N, 141.01°WParker Slate — 44.48°N, 73.21°WWheeler — 39.52°N, 113.00°WLakeview — 47.97°N, 116.43°WCadiz — 34.54°N, 115.47°WBlacksmith — 41.43°N, 111.94°WStissing — 43.18°N, 73.32°W

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The named rock units Zacanthoides has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed.

Zacanthoides and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Zacanthoides and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

452 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 66 sites for Zacanthoides, 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

34 references

Each of the 89 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. 21 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 Zacanthoides

Credit
C.D. Walcott
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itZacanthoididae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Walcott 1888