Acutiramus

Acutiramus is a genus of giant predatory eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Acutiramus have been discovered in deposits of Late Silurian to Early Devonian age. Eight species have been described, five from North America and two from the Czech Republic. The generic name derives from Latin acuto and Latin ramus ("branch"), referring to the acute angle of the final tooth of the claws relative to the rest of the claw.

Acutiramus

John Mason Clarke (1857-1925) and Rudolf Ruedemann (1864-1956) · 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
PterygotidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eurypterida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Eurypterida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eurypterida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Eurypterida

Time the record covers

At least 9.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 413.02 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 425 Mya to 382.31 Mya.

Silurian — about 20 of 32 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 12 of 32 occurrencesDevonian426–424 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences424–423 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences423–421 Mya — about 8 occurrences421–420 Mya — about 9 occurrences420–418 Mya — about 4 occurrences418–417 Mya — about 2 occurrences417–415 Mya — about 2 occurrences415–414 Mya — about 2 occurrences414–413 Mya — about 2 occurrences413–411 Mya — about 1 occurrence411–410 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences410–408 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences408–407 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences407–405 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences405–404 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences404–402 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences402–401 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences401–399 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences399–398 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences398–396 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences396–395 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences395–393 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences393–392 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences392–390 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences390–389 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences389–387 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences387–386 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences386–384 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences384–383 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences383–381 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences422.7 Mya413.02 Mya425.9 Mya381.5 Mya

32 occurrences of Acutiramus 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

32 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

13 formations

Pozary — 49.93°N, 14.18°EPozary — 50.08°N, 14.47°EPozary — 49.90°N, 14.02°EPozary — 49.52°N, 13.50°ELochkov — 50.08°N, 14.47°ELochkov — 49.50°N, 14.33°ELochkov — 49.93°N, 14.18°EFiddlers Green — 42.85°N, 78.80°WBertie — 43.45°N, 74.95°WBertie — 42.88°N, 78.88°WBertie — 43.05°N, 76.15°WCunningham Creek — 45.38°N, 66.32°WOlorda — 41.32°N, 1.97°EPridoli — 50.02°N, 14.38°ELochkow — 49.98°N, 14.33°EVernon — 43.04°N, 75.59°WManlius — 43.05°N, 76.15°WIdjerane Sandstone — 26.50°N, 5.50°EWilson Creek Shale — 38.65°S, 146.21°ERadotin Limestone — 49.99°N, 14.34°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Acutiramus 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.

Acutiramus and its relatives

Silurian

Where Acutiramus and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

325 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 24 sites for Acutiramus, 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

13 references

Each of the 32 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. 1 further reference is 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 Acutiramus

Credit
John Mason Clarke (1857-1925) and Rudolf Ruedemann (1864-1956)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Acutiramus 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 itPterygotidae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Ruedemann 1935)