Diploclema

Diploclema is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the monotypic family Dipoclemidae, found from the Middle Ordovician to the Middle Silurian. It has pear-shaped autozooecia which grow in a biradial pattern, and its colonies have a dichotomously branching shape. Its laminated exterior wall possesses a prismatic structure, which is unique among the cyclostome bryozoans.

Diploclema

via iDigBio · CC BY · via iDigBio. 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
DiploclemidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Tubuliporata
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Tubuliporata
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Tubuliporata
Vision
blindPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At least 25 million years on record.

The record covers at least 458.2 Mya to 432.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 426.7 Mya.

Ordovician — about 5 of 11 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 6 of 11 occurrencesSilurian472–471 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences466–464 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences463–461 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences460–458 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences457–455 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 1 occurrence452–451 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences451–449 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences441–440 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences440–438 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences432–430 Mya — about 1 occurrence430–429 Mya — about 1 occurrence429–427 Mya — about 1 occurrence427–426 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences458.2 Mya432.9 Mya472.2 Mya425.8 Mya

11 occurrences of Diploclema 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

11 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

8 formations

Rochester — 43.16°N, 79.05°WRochester — 43.18°N, 78.72°WRochester — 43.16°N, 77.68°WRochester — 43.19°N, 77.56°WKings Falls — 43.21°N, 75.46°WRochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.62°WDenley Limestone — 43.21°N, 75.46°WHolston — 36.33°N, 83.17°WRockdell — 36.37°N, 83.32°WLas Plantas — 29.75°S, 68.65°WReynales — 43.18°N, 78.75°W

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The named rock units Diploclema has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Diploclema and its relatives

Silurian

Where Diploclema and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

223 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Diploclema, 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

6 references

Each of the 11 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 Diploclema

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itDiploclemidae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ulrich 1889