Beecheria

Beecheria is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Terebratulida and family Beecheriidae. Fossils of this genus have been found in Mississippian to Permian beds in Eurasia, Australia, North America, and South America. The genus was part of the Levipustula fauna characteristic of cold water conditions. "Nests" of Beecheria have been found in fossil low temperature hydrothermal vent communities from the early Carboniferous in Newfoundland.

Beecheria

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
BeecheriidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Terebratulida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Terebratulida
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Terebratulida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Rhynchonellata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 99 million years on record.

The record covers at least 358.86 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 365.2 Mya to 201.4 Mya.

Devonian — about 4 of 189 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 112 of 189 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 72 of 189 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 189 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 189 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 189 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 189 occurrences368–363 Mya — about 2 occurrences363–357 Mya — about 6 occurrences357–351 Mya — about 13 occurrences351–346 Mya — about 7 occurrences346–340 Mya — about 5 occurrences340–334 Mya — about 11 occurrences334–329 Mya — about 19 occurrences329–323 Mya — about 6 occurrences323–317 Mya — about 13 occurrences317–312 Mya — about 3 occurrences312–306 Mya — about 7 occurrences306–300 Mya — about 18 occurrences300–295 Mya — about 15 occurrences295–289 Mya — about 13 occurrences289–283 Mya — about 9 occurrences283–278 Mya — about 3 occurrences278–272 Mya — about 10 occurrences272–266 Mya — about 17 occurrences266–261 Mya — about 8 occurrences261–255 Mya — about 1 occurrence255–249 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences249–244 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences244–238 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences238–232 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences232–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–221 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences221–215 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences215–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–204 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences204–198 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences358.86 Mya259.857 Mya368 Mya198 Mya

189 occurrences of Beecheria on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

189 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

75 formations

Bangor Limestone — 34.59°N, 87.63°WBangor Limestone — 34.52°N, 87.58°WKazan — 53.83°N, 54.76°EKazan — 66.05°N, 43.50°EKazan — 54.10°N, 52.13°EKazan — 55.29°N, 51.20°EKazan — 57.42°N, 48.90°EKazan — 53.24°N, 54.92°EBanff — 57.00°N, 120.00°WBanff — 53.06°N, 118.13°WBanff — 51.80°N, 115.83°WBanff — 51.68°N, 115.83°WBanff — 51.25°N, 115.47°WBanff — 50.91°N, 114.85°WGaptank — 30.18°N, 103.35°WGaptank — 30.35°N, 103.13°WGaptank — 30.35°N, 103.14°WGaptank — 30.41°N, 103.00°WSausbee — 35.76°N, 95.20°WSausbee — 35.55°N, 95.17°WSausbee — 35.63°N, 95.06°WNeal Ranch — 30.36°N, 103.13°WNeal Ranch — 30.35°N, 103.15°WSappington — 46.01°N, 112.54°WSappington — 47.11°N, 110.81°WSappington — 45.87°N, 111.71°WSappington — 45.78°N, 111.73°WGraham — 33.11°N, 98.59°WGraham — 33.01°N, 98.52°WGraham — 31.49°N, 99.31°WGlen Park — 39.58°N, 91.07°WGlen Park — 39.23°N, 90.72°WGlen Park — 38.32°N, 90.38°WGolconda — 38.65°N, 86.75°WGolconda — 38.30°N, 86.47°WGolconda — 37.93°N, 86.54°WHale — 36.01°N, 94.19°WHale — 35.77°N, 94.47°WPottawatomie — 39.10°N, 94.57°WPottawatomie — 39.16°N, 94.48°WPottawatomie — 38.94°N, 95.10°WBeattie — 39.19°N, 96.57°WBeattie — 37.53°N, 96.49°WBeattie — 37.37°N, 96.54°WLenox Hills — 30.25°N, 103.35°WLenox Hills — 30.33°N, 103.22°WLenox Hills — 30.25°N, 103.35°WBajtugan — 54.10°N, 52.26°EKamyshla — 54.42°N, 51.80°EKamyshla — 54.52°N, 52.12°EPechishchi — 55.78°N, 48.93°ERed Eagle Limestone — 38.13°N, 96.33°WRed Eagle Limestone — 37.64°N, 96.49°WCherokee Shale — 37.24°N, 94.99°WCherokee Shale — 37.07°N, 95.11°WCaddo Creek — 33.00°N, 98.67°WCaddo Creek — 31.49°N, 99.31°WWassonville — 41.58°N, 91.33°WHarrodsburg Limestone — 38.08°N, 85.50°WFaulkland — 31.98°S, 151.70°EWood Siding — 38.74°N, 95.99°WWood Siding — 39.11°N, 96.37°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Beecheria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 51 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Beecheria and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Beecheria and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

1,829 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 164 sites for Beecheria, 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

64 references

Each of the 189 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. 52 further references are 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 content1

Picture of Beecheria

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
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 itBeecheriidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hall and Clarke 1893)