Asaphiscus

Asaphiscus is a genus of trilobite that lived in the Cambrian. Its remains have been found in Australia and North America, especially in Utah.

Asaphiscus

Dwergenpaartje · 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
AsaphiscidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Trilobita
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Asaphiscidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 508 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 511.2 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 30 of 30 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 30 occurrences512–511 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences511–510 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences510–509 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences509–508 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences508–507 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences507–507 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 1 occurrence506–505 Mya — about 1 occurrence505–504 Mya — about 2 occurrences504–503 Mya — about 3 occurrences503–502 Mya — about 3 occurrences502–502 Mya — about 3 occurrences502–501 Mya — about 3 occurrences501–500 Mya — about 3 occurrences500–499 Mya — about 2 occurrences499–498 Mya — about 2 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 2 occurrences497–496 Mya — about 1 occurrence496–496 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences496–495 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences495–494 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences494–493 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences493–492 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences492–491 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences491–491 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences491–490 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences490–489 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences488–487 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences508 Mya497 Mya511.7 Mya486.4 Mya

30 occurrences of Asaphiscus 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

30 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

Conasauga — 34.20°N, 85.33°WConasauga — 34.15°N, 85.38°WPleasant Hill Limestone — 40.26°N, 78.30°WPleasant Hill Limestone — 40.00°N, 78.00°WPleasant Hill Limestone — 40.48°N, 75.05°WPleasant Hill Limestone — 40.67°N, 78.11°WWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 111.59°WWheeler Shale — 39.20°N, 113.30°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WLa Laja — 31.55°S, 68.72°WRanken Limestone — 19.63°S, 136.92°EBloomington — 42.19°N, 112.25°WNolichucky — 36.75°N, 82.25°WLower Wheeler Shale — 40.00°N, 113.00°WCanada Head — 51.20°N, 56.75°WMarjum — 39.27°N, 113.31°WEl Mogallón — 28.92°N, 109.29°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Asaphiscus 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.

Asaphiscus and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Asaphiscus and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

237 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Asaphiscus, 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

14 references

Each of the 30 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 content2

Picture of Asaphiscus

Credit
Dwergenpaartje
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
Free Standard
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itAsaphiscidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Meek 1873