Acaste

Acaste is a genus of extinct trilobite of the order Phacopida which lived throughout the Silurian period. Though many species had been included, it now has only one species, Acaste downingiae. It is characterized by a convex dorsal surface, an absence of spines, a shortening of the head-shield and a general rounding off of all angles.

Acaste

User:Captmondo · 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
AcastidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Phacopina
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Acastidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 438.6 Mya to 410.62 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 393.47 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 23 occurrencesSilurian — about 18 of 23 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 5 of 23 occurrencesDevonian444–442 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences442–441 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences441–439 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences439–437 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences437–435 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences435–434 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 1 occurrence432–430 Mya — about 2 occurrences430–429 Mya — about 2 occurrences429–427 Mya — about 2 occurrences427–425 Mya — about 3 occurrences425–423 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences423–422 Mya — about 3 occurrences422–420 Mya — about 4 occurrences420–418 Mya — about 1 occurrence418–417 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences417–415 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences415–413 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences413–411 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences411–410 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences410–408 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences408–406 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences406–405 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences405–403 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences403–401 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences401–399 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences399–398 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences398–396 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences396–394 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences394–392 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences438.6 Mya410.62 Mya444 Mya392 Mya

23 occurrences of Acaste on record, most of them in the Silurian. 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

23 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

Brinkmarsh Beds — 51.88°N, 2.23°WMuch Wenlock — 52.60°N, 2.55°WMuch Wenlock — 52.50°N, 2.08°WWych Beds — 52.05°N, 2.72°WMuch Wenlock Limestone — 52.50°N, 2.08°WZvenigorod suite — 48.55°N, 26.28°ETomashov — 52.00°N, 24.00°ECordobes — 33.00°S, 55.00°WBaton — 41.32°S, 172.72°ERhydings — 52.67°N, 2.00°WBagovitsa — 48.55°N, 26.49°EKaugatuma — 58.12°N, 22.19°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Acaste has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Acaste and its relatives

Silurian

Where Acaste and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

340 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Acaste, 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

17 references

Each of the 23 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. 5 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 Acaste

Credit
User:Captmondo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itAcastidae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Goldfuss 1843)