Cryptolithus

Cryptolithus is a genus of extinct epifaunal, suspension-feeding, trinucleid trilobites that lived during the Ordovician period. They were mostly blind. They are found in the United States, Canada, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Morocco and Turkey.

Cryptolithus

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
TrinucleidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Trinucleidae
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
blindPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 459.3 Mya to 445.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Ordovician — about 200 of 200 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 200 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences470–469 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences467–466 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences465–464 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 1 occurrence462–461 Mya — about 1 occurrence461–460 Mya — about 1 occurrence460–459 Mya — about 1 occurrence459–458 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 3 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 7 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 7 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 6 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 8 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 10 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 10 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 93 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 37 occurrences449–448 Mya — about 1 occurrence448–447 Mya — about 1 occurrence447–446 Mya — about 1 occurrence446–445 Mya — about 1 occurrence445–444 Mya — about 3 occurrences444–444 Mya — about 3 occurrences444–443 Mya — about 1 occurrence459.3 Mya445.2 Mya471.9 Mya442.5 Mya

200 occurrences of Cryptolithus 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

200 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

37 formations

Kope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WKope — 39.03°N, 84.42°WKope — 39.06°N, 84.44°WKope — 39.03°N, 84.54°WKope — 38.79°N, 84.21°WKope — 38.43°N, 83.99°WKope — 38.77°N, 84.10°WMartinsburg — 36.95°N, 81.08°WMartinsburg — 38.51°N, 78.63°WMartinsburg — 40.48°N, 76.53°WMartinsburg — 37.38°N, 80.86°WMartinsburg — 38.52°N, 78.89°WMartinsburg — 38.30°N, 78.01°WMartinsburg — 39.94°N, 77.91°WMartinsburg — 38.25°N, 79.05°WMartinsburg — 41.74°N, 74.18°WLiben — 49.72°N, 13.57°ELiben — 49.80°N, 13.63°ELiben — 49.82°N, 13.70°ELiben — 49.82°N, 13.75°ELiben — 49.72°N, 13.50°ERoad River — 64.50°N, 130.00°WRoad River — 62.12°N, 126.68°WRoad River — 61.63°N, 125.73°WRoad River — 62.00°N, 127.50°WRoad River — 61.70°N, 125.55°WClays Ferry — 38.00°N, 84.67°WClays Ferry — 38.31°N, 84.85°WNicolet River — 45.37°N, 73.44°WNicolet River — 46.00°N, 72.00°WNicolet River — 45.66°N, 72.93°WWhite Head — 48.47°N, 64.32°WWhite Head — 48.52°N, 64.22°WWhite Head — 49.00°N, 64.00°WWhitby — 44.53°N, 80.38°WSugar River Limestone — 44.00°N, 75.00°WSugar River Limestone — 43.00°N, 75.00°WLorraine — 46.20°N, 72.33°WLorraine — 46.22°N, 72.62°WLorraine — 45.79°N, 72.86°WLorraine — 45.45°N, 73.04°WLexington Limestone — 38.22°N, 84.86°WFairview — 39.00°N, 84.00°WOranda — 39.00°N, 78.00°WOranda — 38.52°N, 78.89°WLorraine — 44.00°N, 76.00°WLorraine — 43.56°N, 76.11°WEden — 39.09°N, 84.50°WAllt-Tair-Ffynnon — 52.75°N, 3.20°WChasmops Limestone — 63.00°N, 14.73°EChasmops Limestone — 60.90°N, 15.02°ELantz Mills — 38.53°N, 78.60°WLiberty Hall — 38.53°N, 78.60°WSugar River — 43.21°N, 75.46°WUtica Shale — 43.21°N, 75.46°WBellevue — 39.00°N, 84.00°WCorryville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WMount Auburn — 39.00°N, 84.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cryptolithus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cryptolithus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Cryptolithus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

783 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 129 sites for Cryptolithus, 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

44 references

Each of the 200 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. 32 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 Cryptolithus

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itTrinucleidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

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