Agnostidae

Agnostidae is a family of Agnostida trilobites. Like all Agnostina, they were eyeless and had only two thoracic segments. These trilobites inhabited benthic waters worldwide from 508 to 461 million years ago. The family includes the following genera, among others:

Agnostidae

derivative work: Micha L. Rieser ( talk ) Haeckel_Aspidonia.jpg : Ernst Haeckel · 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
CondylopygoideaPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB, for Agnostida
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Agnostida
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Agnostida
Vision
blindPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 60 million years on record.

The record covers at least 509.7 Mya to 449.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 445.2 Mya.

Cambrian — about 1459 of 1562 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 103 of 1562 occurrencesOrdovician541–537 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences537–534 Mya — about 2 occurrences534–531 Mya — about 2 occurrences531–528 Mya — about 2 occurrences528–524 Mya — about 2 occurrences524–521 Mya — about 2 occurrences521–518 Mya — about 2 occurrences518–515 Mya — about 2 occurrences515–511 Mya — about 4 occurrences511–508 Mya — about 4 occurrences508–505 Mya — about 10 occurrences505–502 Mya — about 41 occurrences502–498 Mya — about 123 occurrences498–495 Mya — about 259 occurrences495–492 Mya — about 456 occurrences492–489 Mya — about 368 occurrences489–486 Mya — about 189 occurrences486–482 Mya — about 29 occurrences482–479 Mya — about 29 occurrences479–476 Mya — about 18 occurrences476–473 Mya — about 6 occurrences473–469 Mya — about 3 occurrences469–466 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences466–463 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences463–460 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences460–456 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences453–450 Mya — about 2 occurrences450–447 Mya — about 4 occurrences447–443 Mya — about 2 occurrences509.7 Mya449.5 Mya541 Mya443 Mya

1,562 occurrences of Agnostidae 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

1,562 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

133 formations

Zhumabai — 43.53°N, 69.95°EBestogai — 43.53°N, 69.95°EMachari — 37.18°N, 128.48°EMachari — 37.31°N, 128.44°EHuaqiao — 28.39°N, 109.53°EHuaqiao — 28.05°N, 109.42°EHuaqiao — 28.72°N, 109.97°EHuaqiao — 29.10°N, 110.92°ELampazar — 23.00°S, 66.00°WLampazar — 23.15°S, 65.60°WLampazar — 23.88°S, 65.71°WLampazar — 23.54°S, 65.41°WLampazar — 23.05°S, 65.47°WLampazar — 23.17°S, 65.44°WLampazar — 23.62°S, 65.69°WLampazar — 22.92°S, 66.62°WRabbitkettle — 64.67°N, 132.00°WRabbitkettle — 62.70°N, 128.38°WRabbitkettle — 63.37°N, 128.60°WRabbitkettle — 64.59°N, 130.01°WRabbitkettle — 61.78°N, 127.95°WShallow Bay — 49.83°N, 57.87°WShallow Bay — 49.02°N, 55.52°WShallow Bay — 49.92°N, 57.83°WShallow Bay — 49.92°N, 57.90°WShallow Bay — 49.83°N, 57.85°WSiyangshan — 28.85°N, 118.65°ESiyangshan — 28.90°N, 118.50°ESiyangshan — 28.82°N, 118.60°EOgon'or — 71.28°N, 127.63°EChatsworth — 22.00°S, 140.30°EChatsworth — 21.94°S, 140.33°EChatsworth — 21.95°S, 140.37°EDeadwood — 44.42°N, 103.71°WDeadwood — 47.42°N, 105.59°WDeadwood — 44.25°N, 103.78°WDeadwood — 44.28°N, 103.73°WDeadwood — 44.25°N, 103.57°WDeadwood — 44.45°N, 104.42°WDeadwood — 44.35°N, 104.00°WDeadwood — 43.82°N, 103.77°WDeadwood — 43.72°N, 103.67°WDeadwood — 43.53°N, 103.55°WDeadwood — 43.60°N, 103.58°WDeadwood — 44.77°N, 107.53°WDeadwood — 44.63°N, 104.38°WTinu — 17.37°N, 97.17°WTinu — 17.47°N, 97.23°WTinu — 17.03°N, 97.23°WTinu — 17.03°N, 96.57°WRiley — 30.64°N, 99.26°WRiley — 30.92°N, 98.61°WRiley — 30.81°N, 98.28°WRiley — 30.91°N, 99.00°WRiley — 30.76°N, 99.41°WRiley — 30.54°N, 99.09°WRiley — 30.49°N, 98.52°WRiley — 30.81°N, 98.37°WShenjiawan — 29.13°N, 110.95°ECollier Shale — 34.67°N, 93.23°WCollier Shale — 34.71°N, 92.98°WCollier Shale — 34.68°N, 93.08°WWindfall — 39.33°N, 116.43°WWindfall — 39.20°N, 116.26°WVolcancito — 28.87°S, 67.75°WHolm Dal — 82.42°N, 39.75°WHuayansi — 28.82°N, 118.60°EHuayansi — 28.88°N, 118.48°ENopah — 40.00°N, 115.00°WNopah — 39.00°N, 116.00°WNopah — 39.00°N, 115.00°WNopah — 36.32°N, 116.99°WNopah — 36.58°N, 117.10°WNopah — 36.46°N, 116.76°WAlum Shale — 58.58°N, 13.38°EAlum Shale — 58.55°N, 13.33°EAlum Shale — 55.72°N, 13.23°EAlum Shale — 56.35°N, 16.42°EChangshan — 35.62°N, 118.90°EChangshan — 36.03°N, 117.68°EChangshan — 36.50°N, 116.83°EChangshan — 35.42°N, 114.05°EChangshan — 39.77°N, 118.40°EChangshan — 39.62°N, 122.00°EChangshan — 35.93°N, 117.08°EChangshan — 40.97°N, 124.25°EChangshan — 39.75°N, 118.32°EBison Creek — 51.50°N, 116.20°WBison Creek — 51.88°N, 116.67°WBison Creek — 51.20°N, 115.65°WBison Creek — 52.27°N, 117.28°WGola Beds — 22.49°S, 140.46°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Agnostidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 109 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 68 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Agnostidae and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Agnostidae and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

850 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 545 sites for Agnostidae, and this reads 240 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

171 references

Each of the 1,562 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. 159 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 Agnostidae

Credit
derivative work: Micha L. Rieser ( talk ) Haeckel_Aspidonia.jpg : Ernst Haeckel
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Agnostidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itCondylopygoidea through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. M'Coy 1849