Coupatezia

Coupatezia is a prehistoric genus of ray in the family Dasyatidae whose fossils are found in strata dating from the Maastrichtian stage until the last species' extinction during the Middle Eocene. These rays were found shallow seas in Europe, Africa and the eastern United States.

Coupatezia

Madsen, Mogens · CC BY 4.0 · via GBIF. 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
DasyatoideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 37.71 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 38 of 141 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 22 of 141 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 81 of 141 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 141 occurrences85–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–81 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences81–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 8 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 10 occurrences69–67 Mya — about 10 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 9 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 5 occurrences64–62 Mya — about 5 occurrences62–60 Mya — about 2 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 2 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 3 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 5 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 6 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 6 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 6 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 7 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 7 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 7 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 7 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 6 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 6 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 2 occurrences66 Mya37.71 Mya85 Mya33 Mya

141 occurrences of Coupatezia on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

141 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

43 formations

Marnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WCouche III — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche III — 32.67°N, 6.67°WBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.28°N, 30.03°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.29°N, 29.99°ESelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WLa Posa — 42.17°N, 0.99°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°ETallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WCouche I — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche I — 32.72°N, 6.78°ECouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WCouche II — 32.65°N, 6.68°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WWulagen — 39.69°N, 75.27°EWulagen — 39.60°N, 75.12°EEarnley — 51.08°N, 1.17°WWittering — 51.08°N, 1.17°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.21°WKemp Clay — 33.21°N, 95.92°WRishtan — 41.65°N, 64.69°ETuscahoma — 32.35°N, 88.68°WBashi — 32.35°N, 88.68°WJbel Tagount — 31.42°N, 6.31°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WTaiba — 15.04°N, 16.82°W

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The named rock units Coupatezia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 51 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Coupatezia and its relatives

Eocene

Where Coupatezia and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,068 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 103 sites for Coupatezia, 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

42 references

Each of the 141 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. 30 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 Coupatezia

Source
GBIF
Credit
Madsen, Mogens
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Coupatezia 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 itDasyatoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cappetta 1982