Chancelloria

Chancelloria is a genus of early animals known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, the Comley limestone, the Wheeler Shale, the Bright Angel Shale and elsewhere. It is named after Chancellor Peak. It was first described in 1920 by Charles Doolittle Walcott, who regarded them as one of the most primitive groups of sponges. However, they are currently thought to be member of the group Chancelloriidae. 178 specimens of Chancelloria are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.34% of the community.

Chancelloria

Jaleigh Q. Pier · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
ChancelloriidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Coeloscleritophora

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 530.7 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 309 of 309 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 309 occurrences540–538 Mya — about 1 occurrence538–536 Mya — about 3 occurrences536–534 Mya — about 3 occurrences534–533 Mya — about 3 occurrences533–531 Mya — about 3 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 5 occurrences529–527 Mya — about 6 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 6 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 15 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 15 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 19 occurrences520–518 Mya — about 24 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 24 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 36 occurrences515–513 Mya — about 39 occurrences513–511 Mya — about 26 occurrences511–509 Mya — about 19 occurrences509–507 Mya — about 17 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 15 occurrences506–504 Mya — about 9 occurrences504–502 Mya — about 5 occurrences502–500 Mya — about 5 occurrences500–498 Mya — about 4 occurrences498–497 Mya — about 4 occurrences497–495 Mya — about 1 occurrence495–493 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences493–491 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences491–489 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences530.7 Mya497 Mya540 Mya486 Mya

309 occurrences of Chancelloria 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

309 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

90 formations

Parara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EParara — 34.06°S, 138.02°EParara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EParara — 34.80°S, 137.69°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.03°N, 115.83°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WDengying — 33.00°N, 107.92°EDengying — 30.73°N, 111.13°EDengying — 30.77°N, 111.12°EDengying — 33.67°N, 109.46°EParara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EPestrotsvet — 57.67°N, 131.83°EPestrotsvet — 57.17°N, 132.00°EPestrotsvet — 60.70°N, 124.72°EPestrotsvet — 60.82°N, 125.00°EPestrotsvet — 60.92°N, 125.77°EPestrotsvet — 58.75°N, 128.00°EPestrotsvet — 58.75°N, 127.00°EPestrotsvet — 71.50°N, 105.00°EPestrotsvet — 57.40°N, 132.73°EZhujiaqing — 26.28°N, 103.22°EZhujiaqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°EZhujiaqing — 25.52°N, 103.07°EZhujiaqing — 26.38°N, 103.21°EShabakty — 43.47°N, 69.87°EShabakty — 43.62°N, 69.73°EShabakty — 43.60°N, 69.33°EShabakty — 43.68°N, 69.68°EShabakty — 43.60°N, 69.45°ESellick Hill — 35.37°S, 138.38°EWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 111.59°WWheeler Shale — 39.20°N, 113.30°WWheeler Shale — 39.36°N, 113.28°WWheeler Shale — 39.29°N, 113.31°WAjax Limestone — 30.59°S, 138.33°EXinji — 33.27°N, 112.98°EXinji — 34.53°N, 110.87°EXinji — 34.90°N, 106.85°EWirrealpa Limestone — 31.33°S, 138.87°EEmigrant — 37.80°N, 117.60°WEmigrant — 37.71°N, 117.45°WEmigrant — 37.91°N, 117.87°WBrowns Pond — 42.22°N, 73.73°WLower Comley — 52.56°N, 2.76°WLower Comley — 52.65°N, 2.73°WLower Comley — 52.54°N, 2.80°WKulpara — 34.92°S, 137.80°EKulpara — 34.70°S, 137.71°EKulpara — 34.73°S, 137.63°EMatoppa — 39.27°N, 8.47°EMatoppa — 39.35°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.40°N, 8.45°EMatoppa — 39.37°N, 8.52°EZhujianqing — 24.73°N, 102.57°EKulpara Limestone — 34.92°S, 137.80°EForteau — 49.60°N, 57.83°WForteau — 49.52°N, 57.71°WWeymouth — 42.03°N, 71.38°WWeymouth — 41.95°N, 71.28°WWeymouth — 42.22°N, 70.95°WMernmerna — 31.19°S, 138.87°EEmyaksin — 70.72°N, 112.88°EEmyaksin — 70.22°N, 113.70°EEmyaksin — 70.71°N, 112.79°ELáncara — 42.90°N, 5.17°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chancelloria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 66 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chancelloria and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Chancelloria and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

1,290 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 243 sites for Chancelloria, and this reads 240 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

90 references

Each of the 309 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. 78 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 content2

Picture of Chancelloria

Credit
Jaleigh Q. Pier
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itChancelloriidae through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Walcott 1920