Bolbocephalus

Bolbocephalus is a genus of proetid trilobites in the family Bathyuridae. Species lived during the early part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, a faunal stage which lasted from approximately 478 to 471 million years ago, in marine strata of the United States, Canada, and Greenland.

Bolbocephalus

via iDigBio · 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
BathyurinaePBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Proetida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Bathyuridae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 483.4 Mya to 469.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 488.9 Mya to 457.3 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 129 occurrencesOrdovician — about 129 of 129 occurrencesOrdovician490–488 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences488–487 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences487–486 Mya — about 2 occurrences486–485 Mya — about 3 occurrences485–484 Mya — about 3 occurrences484–483 Mya — about 5 occurrences483–482 Mya — about 8 occurrences482–481 Mya — about 10 occurrences481–480 Mya — about 11 occurrences480–479 Mya — about 11 occurrences479–477 Mya — about 11 occurrences477–476 Mya — about 11 occurrences476–475 Mya — about 12 occurrences475–474 Mya — about 10 occurrences474–473 Mya — about 10 occurrences473–472 Mya — about 10 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 7 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences470–469 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences467–465 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences465–464 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences462–461 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences459–458 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences483.4 Mya469.4 Mya489.5 Mya456.7 Mya

129 occurrences of Bolbocephalus on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

129 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

18 formations

Kindblade — 34.37°N, 97.14°WKindblade — 34.97°N, 98.63°WCatoche — 48.55°N, 59.25°WCatoche — 50.73°N, 57.36°WCatoche — 51.59°N, 55.99°WCatoche — 51.63°N, 55.90°WCatoche — 50.73°N, 57.35°WCatoche — 48.54°N, 58.74°WCatoche — 50.73°N, 57.25°WCatoche — 50.36°N, 57.54°WCatoche — 50.88°N, 57.13°WCatoche — 50.76°N, 57.22°WCatoche — 50.77°N, 57.14°WCatoche — 51.60°N, 55.84°WBoat Harbour — 51.59°N, 55.99°WBoat Harbour — 48.54°N, 58.74°WBoat Harbour — 50.77°N, 57.14°WBoat Harbour — 51.61°N, 55.92°WBoat Harbour — 51.10°N, 56.88°WBoat Harbour — 50.70°N, 57.35°WBoat Harbour — 50.73°N, 57.35°WBoat Harbour — 51.60°N, 55.84°WKirtonryggen — 79.85°N, 17.67°EFort Cassin — 43.91°N, 73.42°WFort Cassin — 44.23°N, 73.33°WSmithville — 37.30°N, 89.96°WSmithville — 37.32°N, 89.88°WFillmore Limestone — 38.82°N, 113.44°WCape Weber — 73.53°N, 24.71°WCape Weber — 72.79°N, 25.00°WBeauharnois — 45.25°N, 74.18°WLehman — 39.18°N, 113.48°WNinemile — 37.34°N, 115.38°WRomaine — 50.20°N, 63.40°WFort Ann — 43.91°N, 73.30°WOxford — 44.93°N, 75.60°WBaumann Fiord — 79.23°N, 78.01°WLower Head — 49.82°N, 54.09°WCotter — 38.22°N, 90.38°WRich Fountain — 38.58°N, 92.17°W

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The named rock units Bolbocephalus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bolbocephalus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Bolbocephalus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

245 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 109 sites for Bolbocephalus, 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

30 references

Each of the 129 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. 18 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 Bolbocephalus

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Bolbocephalus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itBathyurinae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Whitfield 1890