Bacillariophyceae

Bacillariophyceae is a class of diatoms. Previously, this class was equivalent to Diatomeae, the taxonomic name for all diatoms. However, due to both the known and estimated diversity of diatoms, since 2019 they have been expanded to several classes. In particular, Bacillariophyceae was given the following modified diagnosis:"Chain-forming, colonial or solitary; valve outline almost always bipolar; valve pattern organized bilaterally about an elongate axial rib (sternum), as in a feather; valve structure simple or chambered; rimoportulae generally only one or two per valve or none, sometimes accompanied by special slits involved in motility; sexual reproduction involving gametangiogamy and almost always with gametes of equal size ; perizonium generally differentiated into two distinct series, transverse and longitudinal; chloroplasts usually only one, two or a few and large, less often many and small."

Bacillariophyceae

alexandra · CC BY 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
Also called
diatomPBDB
Sits inside
OchrophytaPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB
Environment
marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1579 of 12000 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 629 of 12000 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 71 of 12000 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 146 of 12000 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 3270 of 12000 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2422 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3698 of 12000 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 122 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 297 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 297 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 297 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 249 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 177 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 178 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 179 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 179 occurrences60–57 Mya — about 179 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 55 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 21 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 23 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 16 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 5 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 1 occurrence34–31 Mya — about 46 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 49 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 32 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 44 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 248 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 242 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 460 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 632 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 758 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 806 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 2286 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 4116 occurrences72.2 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Bacillariophyceae on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

12,000 occurrences read

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. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 36 formations

Mason River — 69.46°N, 126.97°WLopez de Bertodano — 64.25°S, 56.75°WSobral — 64.25°S, 56.75°WKanguk — 75.63°N, 119.37°WKanguk — 79.00°N, 85.37°WKanguk — 78.00°N, 103.00°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WLatah — 47.56°N, 117.22°WEmbetsu — 44.35°N, 141.73°EChoptank — 38.44°N, 76.44°WFormación Coquimbo — 29.08°S, 71.46°WFormación Coquimbo — 30.32°S, 71.52°WFormación Coquimbo — 30.34°S, 71.57°WKylan — 59.92°N, 164.78°EDaineji — 37.37°N, 141.04°ESmoking Hills — 69.46°N, 126.97°WKelseyville — 38.92°N, 122.88°WKelseyville — 38.95°N, 122.85°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 37.71°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 37.60°N, 77.05°WAlturas — 41.49°N, 120.65°WGadeb — 7.12°N, 39.37°EBateque — 26.38°N, 112.59°WBateque — 26.96°N, 113.04°WBateque — 26.91°N, 113.01°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WTatsunokuchi — 39.07°N, 141.18°EChepotsunai — 44.32°N, 141.67°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EMochikubetsu — 44.38°N, 141.71°EMorwell — 38.23°S, 146.62°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Bacillariophyceae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 12 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 9,293 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

436 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 122 sites for Bacillariophyceae, and this reads 122 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

at least 75 references

Each of the 12,000 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. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 63 further references are not listed. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Bacillariophyceae

Credit
alexandra
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itOchrophyta through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Haeckel 1878