Beaconites

Beaconites is an ichnogenus known from the Beacon Supergroup, Antarctica, comprising a large, segmented burrow, bearing superficial resemblance to the skeleton of a snake, and probably created by a worm-like organism "shovelling" the substrate out of its way. Some terminate in elliptical pits, around 1.5 cm in diameter, presumed to represent burrowing activity. The producer of the trace is thought to have burrowed to a depth of no more than a few tens of centimeters.

No picture of Beaconites was found. Wikipedia and Wikidata were searched and had none. iDigBio and GBIF were not searched: the Paleobiology Database does not place Beaconites firmly enough to tell it from something else bearing the same name, and a search on the name alone returns whichever of them was photographed. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
IchnofossilsPBDB

Time the record covers

At most 33 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 132.6 Mya and 100.5 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 3 of 3 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 3 occurrences133–132 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–131 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences131–130 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences130–129 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences129–128 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences128–127 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences127–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences133.2 Mya99.9 Mya

3 occurrences of Beaconites on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

3 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

2 formations

Jiaguan — 29.36°N, 103.94°EWeald Clay — 51.07°N, 0.39°W

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

Beaconites and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Beaconites and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

9 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Beaconites, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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 3 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content0

No picture of Beaconites was found. Wikipedia and Wikidata were searched and had none.

iDigBio and GBIF were not searched: the Paleobiology Database does not place Beaconites firmly enough to tell it from something else bearing the same name, and a search on the name alone returns whichever of them was photographed.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

No 3D scan of Beaconites was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itIchnofossils through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Vyalov 1962