Archaeaspis

Archaeaspis is an extinct genus of redlichiid trilobites. It lived during the late Atdabanian stage, which lasted from 521 to 514 million years ago during the early part of the Cambrian Period. The first specimens were first found in Siberia, where they were originally thought to have been endemic. Later, though, more specimen were found in the Inyo Mountains in Southern California. An Ediacarian proarticulatan was given the same name, Archaeaspis Ivantsov, 2001. This is however a junior homonym. The name Archaeaspis Repina in Khomentovskii and Repina, 1965, for the trilobite has priority. The new valid name for the proarticulate is Archaeaspinus Ivantsov, 2007.

Archaeaspis

Uncredited · 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
ArchaeaspididaePBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Redlichiida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Redlichiida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Redlichiida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Archaeaspididae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 18 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 520 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 515.3 Mya.

Cambrian — about 8 of 12 occurrencesCambrian637–633 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences633–629 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences629–625 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences625–621 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences621–617 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences617–612 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences612–608 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences608–604 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences604–600 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences600–596 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences596–592 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences592–588 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences588–583 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences583–579 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences579–575 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences575–571 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences571–567 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences567–563 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences563–559 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences559–554 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences554–550 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences550–546 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences546–542 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences542–538 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences521–517 Mya — about 5 occurrences517–513 Mya — about 3 occurrences538.8 Mya520 Mya637 Mya513 Mya

12 occurrences of Archaeaspis 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

12 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

6 formations

Campito — 37.30°N, 118.15°WCampito — 37.42°N, 118.19°WCampito — 37.24°N, 118.16°WCampito — 37.01°N, 117.93°WCampito — 37.50°N, 118.30°WRawnsley Quartzite — 31.67°S, 138.77°EZimnegory — 65.47°N, 39.75°EErkhelnur — 51.00°N, 100.00°EVerkhovka — 64.63°N, 39.22°EYorga — 65.70°N, 40.18°E

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The named rock units Archaeaspis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Archaeaspis and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Archaeaspis and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

48 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Archaeaspis, 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

6 references

Each of the 12 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. 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 Archaeaspis

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itArchaeaspididae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Repina 1965