Deltoptychius

Deltoptychius is an extinct species of cartilaginous fish related to the modern chimaeras. It lived in the Carboniferous period in present-day United Kingdom. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Glencartholm Volcanic Beds Formation of the Upper Border Group in Scotland.

Deltoptychius

Smithsonian Institution, NMNH, Paleobiology · 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
DeltoptychiidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Holocephali
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Holocephali
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Holocephali

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 339.9 Mya to 323.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 298.9 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 6 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 6 of 6 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 6 occurrences360–358 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences358–356 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences356–354 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences354–352 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences352–350 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences350–348 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences348–346 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences346–343 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences343–341 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences341–339 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences339–337 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences337–335 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences335–333 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences333–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–329 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences329–327 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences327–325 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences325–323 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences323–321 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences321–318 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences318–316 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences316–314 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences314–312 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences312–310 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences310–308 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences308–306 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences306–304 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences304–302 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences302–300 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences300–298 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences339.9 Mya323.4 Mya360 Mya298 Mya

6 occurrences of Deltoptychius on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

6 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

2 formations

Glencartholm Volcanic Beds — 55.20°N, 3.07°WLimestone Coal — 55.92°N, 4.33°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Deltoptychius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Deltoptychius and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Deltoptychius and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

115 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Deltoptychius, 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

3 references

Each of the 6 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. 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 Deltoptychius

Credit
Smithsonian Institution, NMNH, Paleobiology
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Deltoptychius 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 itDeltoptychiidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Morris and Roberts 1862