Acanthodus

Acanthodus is an extinct genus of conodonts.

Acanthodus

USGS · 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
AcanthodontidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Conodonta
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Conodonta
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Conodonta
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Conodonta

Time the record covers

At least 63 million years on record.

The record covers at least 483.4 Mya to 419.62 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 488.9 Mya to 393.47 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 55 occurrencesOrdovician — about 54 of 55 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 55 occurrencesDevonian — about 1 of 55 occurrencesDevonian491–488 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences488–484 Mya — about 12 occurrences484–481 Mya — about 17 occurrences481–478 Mya — about 17 occurrences478–474 Mya — about 3 occurrences474–471 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences471–468 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences468–464 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences464–461 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences461–458 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences458–454 Mya — about 1 occurrence454–451 Mya — about 1 occurrence451–448 Mya — about 2 occurrences448–444 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences444–441 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences421–418 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences418–415 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences415–411 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences411–408 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences408–405 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences405–401 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences401–398 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences398–395 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences395–392 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences483.4 Mya419.62 Mya491 Mya392 Mya

55 occurrences of Acanthodus 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

55 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

20 formations

Kechika — 57.70°N, 124.58°WKechika — 57.87°N, 124.08°WKechika — 58.77°N, 127.55°WTribes Hill — 42.98°N, 74.26°WTribes Hill — 42.92°N, 74.42°WBliss Sandstone — 32.87°N, 107.18°WBliss Sandstone — 31.79°N, 106.47°WMangazea — 63.00°N, 92.00°EMangazea — 63.00°N, 100.00°EMangazea — 63.00°N, 95.00°EDumugol — 37.19°N, 128.74°EHitt Canyon — 32.87°N, 107.18°WHitt Canyon — 31.79°N, 106.47°WNanjinguan — 33.00°N, 111.00°EGoodwin — 39.08°N, 116.27°WUst'Kut — 61.00°N, 114.00°EUst’Kut — 61.00°N, 114.00°ENyaiskii — 60.00°N, 118.00°ENirunda — 63.00°N, 95.00°EBur — 63.00°N, 95.00°EKruzhilikha — 67.12°N, 52.07°EBjörkåsholmen — 59.67°N, 14.03°EKalladeina — 27.67°S, 140.42°EAnse du Crapaud — 48.79°N, 64.70°WManitou Limestone — 38.88°N, 104.97°WWindmill Limestone — 39.96°N, 116.58°WCutting Dolomite — 43.86°N, 73.40°W

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The named rock units Acanthodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acanthodus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Acanthodus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

155 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Acanthodus, 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 55 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 Acanthodus

Credit
USGS
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Acanthodus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itAcanthodontidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.