Eurypterus

Eurypterus is an extinct genus of eurypterid, a group of organisms commonly called "sea scorpions". The genus lived during the Silurian period, from around 432 to 418 million years ago. Eurypterus is by far the most well-studied and well-known eurypterid. Eurypterus fossil specimens probably represent more than 95% of all known eurypterid specimens.

Eurypterus

Luis Fernández García · 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
EurypteridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Eurypterida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Eurypterida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Eurypterida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Eurypterida

Time the record covers

At least 123 million years on record.

The record covers at least 432.9 Mya to 309.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 307.4 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 47 occurrencesSilurian — about 45 of 47 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 1 of 47 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 1 of 47 occurrencesCarboniferous446–441 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences441–436 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences436–432 Mya — about 5 occurrences432–427 Mya — about 10 occurrences427–422 Mya — about 14 occurrences422–418 Mya — about 15 occurrences418–413 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences314–309 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences309–305 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences432.9 Mya309.8 Mya446 Mya305 Mya

47 occurrences of Eurypterus 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

47 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

28 formations

Steinsfjorden — 60.17°N, 10.30°ESteinsfjorden — 59.90°N, 10.53°ESteinsfjorden — 60.03°N, 10.28°EBertie — 43.45°N, 74.95°WBertie — 43.00°N, 78.07°WBertie — 42.88°N, 78.88°WSyracuse — 43.05°N, 76.15°WSyracuse — 43.07°N, 76.33°WSyracuse — 43.05°N, 76.15°WSintan Shale — 31.00°N, 112.00°EVernon Shale — 43.08°N, 77.52°WRead Bay — 75.00°N, 95.00°WRead Bay — 74.84°N, 93.51°WLeopold — 73.86°N, 90.25°WTonoloway — 40.90°N, 76.89°WTonoloway — 40.45°N, 77.83°WTonoloway Limestone — 39.57°N, 78.84°WFiddlers Green — 42.85°N, 78.80°WAkron — 42.85°N, 78.80°WMuksha subsuite — 48.00°N, 26.00°ETymochtee — 41.67°N, 84.33°WReservoir — 56.00°N, 3.00°WKirkby Moor Flags — 54.32°N, 2.75°WDownton Castle Sandstone — 52.37°N, 2.73°WTemeside Shale — 52.37°N, 2.73°WHogklint — 57.57°N, 18.30°ERootsikula — 58.42°N, 22.50°EPaadla — 58.25°N, 22.50°ESundvollen — 59.92°N, 10.75°EFraenkelryggen — 79.83°N, 12.00°EKitaigorod — 49.00°N, 29.00°EUstje — 49.00°N, 28.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Eurypterus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eurypterus and its relatives

Silurian

Where Eurypterus and its relatives were recorded in the Silurian.

Found in the same rock

245 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 42 sites for Eurypterus, 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

14 references

Each of the 47 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. 2 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 Eurypterus

Credit
Luis Fernández García
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itEurypteridae through timeFormations of the SilurianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. De Kay 1825