Aulopopsis

Aulopopsis is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the lower Eocene. It is considered a relative of lizardfish in the order Aulopiformes, but its exact taxonomic placement is uncertain. Some authorities place it with the Aulopidae, while others place it with the Giganturoidae.

Aulopopsis

via GBIF · CC0 · via GBIF. 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
AulopidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Aulopiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Aulopiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Aulopiformes

Time the record covers

At most 8 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 56 Mya and 48.07 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Paleocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesEocene56–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56.5 Mya47.6 Mya

2 occurrences of Aulopopsis on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

2 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

1 formation

London Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.39°N, 0.84°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Aulopopsis and its relatives

Eocene

Where Aulopopsis and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

184 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Aulopopsis, 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

2 references

Each of the 2 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 content3

Picture of Aulopopsis

Source
GBIF
Credit
via GBIF
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Aulopopsis sp. · oumnh:pal:L.01823

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
Palaeoart
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itAulopidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Casier 1966