Cheirurus

Cheirurus is a genus of phacopid trilobites that lived from the Ordovician to the Devonian. Its remains have been found in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Cheirurus is the type genus of Cheiruridae.

Cheirurus

Jonathan Chen · 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
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 70 million years on record.

The record covers at least 458.2 Mya to 387.95 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 469.4 Mya to 382.31 Mya.

Ordovician — about 16 of 109 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 80 of 109 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 13 of 109 occurrencesDevonian471–468 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences468–465 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences465–462 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences462–459 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences459–456 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences456–453 Mya — about 1 occurrence453–450 Mya — about 2 occurrences450–447 Mya — about 5 occurrences447–444 Mya — about 5 occurrences444–441 Mya — about 2 occurrences441–438 Mya — about 5 occurrences438–435 Mya — about 4 occurrences435–432 Mya — about 13 occurrences432–429 Mya — about 24 occurrences429–426 Mya — about 18 occurrences426–423 Mya — about 11 occurrences423–420 Mya — about 4 occurrences420–417 Mya — about 2 occurrences417–414 Mya — about 2 occurrences414–411 Mya — about 7 occurrences411–408 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences408–405 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences405–402 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences402–399 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences399–396 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences396–393 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences390–387 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences387–384 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences384–381 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences458.2 Mya387.95 Mya471 Mya381 Mya

109 occurrences of Cheirurus on record, most of them in the Silurian. 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

109 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

54 formations

Motol — 49.95°N, 12.93°EMotol — 50.00°N, 17.78°EMotol — 49.95°N, 14.22°EMotol — 50.05°N, 14.37°EMotol — 50.03°N, 14.32°EMotol — 49.97°N, 14.13°EMotol — 49.77°N, 13.25°EMotol — 50.08°N, 14.47°ERacine Dolomite — 41.67°N, 88.00°WRacine Dolomite — 43.00°N, 88.00°WRacine Dolomite — 38.97°N, 90.43°WRacine Dolomite — 41.12°N, 88.02°WRacine Dolomite — 42.72°N, 87.78°WRacine Dolomite — 41.57°N, 87.60°WScotch Grove — 42.00°N, 91.00°WScotch Grove — 42.00°N, 92.00°WScotch Grove — 41.85°N, 90.18°WRacine — 42.73°N, 87.78°WRacine — 42.88°N, 88.04°WRacine — 43.05°N, 88.01°WHenryhouse — 35.08°N, 98.24°WHenryhouse — 34.73°N, 96.63°WHenryhouse — 34.37°N, 97.00°WSt. Clair Limestone — 35.77°N, 91.63°WWhittaker — 62.77°N, 125.25°WBoda Limestone — 60.97°N, 15.15°EBoda Limestone — 61.02°N, 15.22°EJerrestad Shale — 57.78°N, 14.18°ESkelgill — 54.32°N, 2.75°WRochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.62°WRochester Shale — 43.20°N, 77.53°WMount Ida — 36.77°S, 144.77°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 12.93°EKopanina — 50.08°N, 14.47°ESidi Ahroun Limestone — 33.43°N, 6.02°WIhandar — 30.84°N, 4.92°WGazelle — 41.47°N, 122.59°WYeringberg — 37.78°S, 145.53°EJoslin Hill — 43.21°N, 75.46°WStringocephalus-Kalk — 51.77°N, 10.80°ETongtou — 31.00°N, 117.00°EBoola Beds — 38.15°S, 146.47°EGlenmark Shale — 43.15°N, 77.06°WAlticola Limestone — 46.67°N, 13.02°EPozary — 50.03°N, 14.32°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cheirurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 30 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cheirurus and its relatives

Silurian

Where Cheirurus and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

1,370 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 103 sites for Cheirurus, 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

51 references

Each of the 109 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. 39 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 Cheirurus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
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

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 itCheiruridae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Beyrich 1845