Archaeopteris

Searched as Archaeopteris roemeriana. The Paleobiology Database treats Archaeopteris as the accepted name.

Archaeopteris is an extinct genus of progymnosperm tree with fern-like leaves. A useful index fossil, this tree is found in strata dating from the Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous, the oldest fossils being 385 million years old, and had global distribution.

Archaeopteris

User:Daderot (modified by User:Kontos ) · 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
ArchaeopteridaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 6.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 372.15 Mya to 365.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 382.31 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Devonian — about 18 of 18 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 18 occurrences383–382 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences382–381 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences381–380 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences380–380 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences380–379 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences379–378 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences378–377 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences377–376 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences376–375 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences375–375 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences375–374 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences374–373 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences373–372 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences372–371 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences371–371 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences371–370 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences370–369 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences369–368 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences368–367 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences367–367 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences367–366 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences366–365 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences365–364 Mya — about 2 occurrences364–363 Mya — about 2 occurrences363–362 Mya — about 2 occurrences362–362 Mya — about 2 occurrences362–361 Mya — about 2 occurrences361–360 Mya — about 2 occurrences360–359 Mya — about 2 occurrences359–358 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences372.15 Mya365.2 Mya382.8 Mya358.4 Mya

18 occurrences of Archaeopteris on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

18 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

4 formations

Evieux — 50.33°N, 4.98°EEvieux — 50.37°N, 5.02°EEvieux — 50.33°N, 5.13°EEvieux — 50.45°N, 5.28°EEvieux — 50.52°N, 5.37°EEvieux — 50.53°N, 5.57°EEvieux — 50.58°N, 5.75°EEvieux — 50.67°N, 5.70°EEvieux — 50.18°N, 5.38°EEvieux — 50.72°N, 5.98°EPocono — 41.82°N, 78.28°WZhandr Horizon — 72.00°N, 52.00°EBois des Mouches — 50.34°N, 4.87°E

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The named rock units Archaeopteris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Archaeopteris and its relatives

Devonian

Where Archaeopteris and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

196 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 93 sites for Archaeopteris, 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

5 references

Each of the 18 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 Archaeopteris

Credit
User:Daderot (modified by User:Kontos )
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itArchaeopteridaceae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dawson 1871