Ceraurus

Ceraurus is a genus of cheirurid trilobite of the middle and, much more rarely, the upper Ordovician. They are commonly found in strata of the lower Great Lakes region. These trilobites have eleven thoracic segments, a very small pygidium and long genal and pygidial spines.

Ceraurus

Daderot · CC0 · 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
CheiruridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cheiruridae
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 464.3 Mya to 449.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Ordovician — about 184 of 184 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 184 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 2 occurrences470–469 Mya — about 2 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 2 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 2 occurrences467–466 Mya — about 2 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 2 occurrences465–464 Mya — about 2 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 2 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 2 occurrences462–461 Mya — about 2 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 2 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 2 occurrences459–458 Mya — about 2 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 5 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 13 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 13 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 13 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 15 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 18 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 17 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 25 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 21 occurrences449–448 Mya — about 5 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 5 occurrences447–446 Mya — about 5 occurrences446–445 Mya — about 4 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 1 occurrence444–444 Mya — about 1 occurrence444–443 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences464.3 Mya449.5 Mya471.9 Mya442.5 Mya

184 occurrences of Ceraurus 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

184 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

68 formations

Rust — 43.28°N, 75.14°WBobcaygeon — 44.67°N, 78.80°WBobcaygeon — 44.53°N, 78.55°WBobcaygeon — 44.50°N, 79.20°WBobcaygeon — 44.60°N, 79.00°WBobcaygeon — 44.58°N, 79.09°WWhittaker — 62.00°N, 127.00°WWhittaker — 61.52°N, 124.87°WWhittaker — 62.47°N, 124.85°WWhittaker — 63.28°N, 125.35°WWhittaker — 61.48°N, 125.05°WWhittaker — 62.46°N, 124.88°WWhittaker — 62.50°N, 125.25°WDenley Limestone — 43.21°N, 75.46°WDenley Limestone — 43.88°N, 75.49°WVerulam — 44.75°N, 79.33°WVerulam — 44.60°N, 78.97°WVerulam — 44.45°N, 78.70°WVerulam — 44.52°N, 78.97°WVerulam — 44.43°N, 78.78°WVerulam — 44.02°N, 77.15°WVerulam — 44.50°N, 79.17°WDunleith — 42.00°N, 90.50°WMartinsburg — 36.95°N, 81.08°WMartinsburg — 37.38°N, 80.86°WMartinsburg — 38.52°N, 78.89°WLebanon Limestone — 35.80°N, 86.13°WLebanon Limestone — 35.45°N, 86.88°WLebanon Limestone — 36.00°N, 86.45°WLebanon Limestone — 35.47°N, 86.80°WShipshaw — 48.53°N, 72.22°WShipshaw — 48.42°N, 72.06°WShipshaw — 48.64°N, 71.20°WShipshaw — 48.65°N, 71.21°WEsbataottine — 62.47°N, 124.85°WEsbataottine — 61.63°N, 125.73°WEsbataottine — 62.17°N, 127.42°WEsbataottine — 61.72°N, 125.93°WCarters Limestone — 35.80°N, 86.12°WHanson Creek — 39.38°N, 116.14°WHanson Creek — 39.00°N, 116.00°WKope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WKope — 38.68°N, 83.79°WKope — 39.07°N, 84.50°WHermitage — 35.80°N, 86.12°WHermitage — 35.50°N, 86.50°WGrande Coupe — 48.54°N, 64.25°WScales Shale — 44.98°N, 93.27°WScales Shale — 42.00°N, 90.50°WScales Shale — 43.05°N, 91.83°WAmadjuak — 63.72°N, 68.97°WAmadjuak — 68.77°N, 81.22°WStonington — 45.67°N, 86.97°WCarters — 36.14°N, 86.38°WCarters — 35.86°N, 86.59°WKings Falls — 43.21°N, 75.46°WMaquoketa — 43.61°N, 92.43°WMaquoketa — 42.94°N, 91.71°WFairview — 39.00°N, 84.00°WFairview — 39.03°N, 84.51°WCorryville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WCorryville — 39.17°N, 84.12°WProsser Limestone — 44.98°N, 93.27°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ceraurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 44 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ceraurus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Ceraurus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

1,318 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 174 sites for Ceraurus, 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

60 references

Each of the 184 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. 48 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 content3

Picture of Ceraurus

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ceraurus pleurexanthamus · MCZ:IP:186233

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCheiruridae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Green 1832