Bergaueria

Bergaueria is an Ediacaran–Miocene trace fossil believed to represent the dwelling trace of Cnidarians. It likely caused mixing and fluid exchange into the sediment (bioirrigation). Similar traces (Cheiichnus) can be made by rotational movement of arthropods.

A picture published with the record for Bergaueria. What it shows has not been checked.

Stephen P. Albert · Public Domain · 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
IchnofossilsPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 477 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 60.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 57.5 Mya.

Cambrian — about 26 of 53 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 5 of 53 occurrencesSilurian — about 0 of 53 occurrencesDevonian — about 1 of 53 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 53 occurrencesPermian — about 0 of 53 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 53 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 53 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 53 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 53 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 53 occurrences647–627 Mya — about 2 occurrences627–607 Mya — about 4 occurrences607–586 Mya — about 4 occurrences586–566 Mya — about 4 occurrences566–546 Mya — about 4 occurrences546–526 Mya — about 6 occurrences526–506 Mya — about 21 occurrences506–486 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences486–466 Mya — about 5 occurrences386–366 Mya — about 1 occurrence66–46 Mya — about 1 occurrence538.8 Mya60.9 Mya647 Mya46 Mya

53 occurrences of Bergaueria 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

53 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

26 formations

Harkless — 37.30°N, 118.10°WHarkless — 37.08°N, 118.11°WDeep Spring — 37.35°N, 117.32°WUrusis — 28.74°S, 17.55°EBeach — 47.63°N, 52.92°WPedroche — 37.95°N, 4.77°WNudaus — 24.36°S, 16.49°ENudaus — 24.22°S, 16.38°EZaris — 24.63°S, 16.05°EZaris — 25.60°S, 16.97°EZigan — 56.60°N, 56.68°EDabis — 22.00°S, 17.00°ECampito — 37.69°N, 117.73°WPuerto Blanco — 30.42°N, 111.93°WArrojos — 30.42°N, 111.93°WBolloncillos — 41.70°N, 1.55°WOcieseki Sandstone — 50.90°N, 20.90°ECzarna Shale — 50.90°N, 20.90°ERome — 36.13°N, 84.04°WPowers Steps — 47.63°N, 52.99°WRedmans — 47.66°N, 52.93°WLatham — 34.59°N, 115.52°WPoleta — 37.29°N, 118.11°WHanna — 42.02°N, 106.45°WUrusis — 27.45°S, 16.56°EEstenilla — 39.67°N, 5.03°WCíjara — 39.67°N, 5.03°W

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The named rock units Bergaueria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bergaueria and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Bergaueria and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

194 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 38 sites for Bergaueria, 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

21 references

Each of the 53 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. 9 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 Bergaueria

Credit
Stephen P. Albert
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Bergaueria 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 CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Prantl 1946