Edestus

Edestus is an extinct genus of eugeneodontid holocephalian fish known from the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) of the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States. Most remains consist of isolated curved blades or "whorls" that are studded with teeth, that in life were situated within the midline of the upper and lower jaws. Edestus is a Greek name derived from the word edeste, in reference to the aberrant quality and size of the species' teeth.

Edestus

Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania · CC BY 2.0 · 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
EdestidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eugeneodontiformes
Length
6 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 8.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 315.2 Mya to 307 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 323.4 Mya to 298.9 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 17 of 17 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 17 occurrences324–323 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences323–322 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences322–321 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences321–321 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences321–320 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences320–319 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences319–318 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences318–317 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences317–316 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences316–315 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences315–315 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences315–314 Mya — about 1 occurrence314–313 Mya — about 1 occurrence313–312 Mya — about 1 occurrence312–311 Mya — about 1 occurrence311–310 Mya — about 1 occurrence310–309 Mya — about 1 occurrence309–309 Mya — about 1 occurrence309–308 Mya — about 1 occurrence308–307 Mya — about 1 occurrence307–306 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences306–305 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences305–304 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences304–304 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences304–303 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences303–302 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences302–301 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences301–300 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences300–299 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences299–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences315.2 Mya307 Mya323.9 Mya298.4 Mya

17 occurrences of Edestus 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

17 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

7 formations

Minturn — 39.91°N, 106.71°WMinturn — 39.92°N, 106.78°WLinton — 39.72°N, 87.32°WSmithwick — 30.66°N, 99.32°WAltamont Limestone — 37.04°N, 95.53°WMinnelusa — 44.22°N, 103.41°WAtoka — 35.74°N, 95.25°WPeski — 55.25°N, 38.68°E

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The named rock units Edestus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 9 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Edestus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Edestus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

21 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Edestus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

11 references

Each of the 17 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 content3

Picture of Edestus

Credit
Gyik Toma (Tommy the paleobear) from Romania
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Edestus heinrichi · ism:geo:497337

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 itEdestidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leidy 1855