Flexibilia

Flexibilia is a superorder of specialized Paleozoic crinoids. They exhibited a conserved body plan and consistent suite of characteristics throughout their long history. Previously considered a subclass with unclear affinities, later investigation determined that flexibles are well-nested within Cladida, a broad group ancestral to living articulate crinoids. The Ordovician cladid Cupulocrinus acts as an intermediate form linking the generalized anatomy of other early cladids with the distinctive anatomy of flexibles, and several studies have considered it to be ancestral to the rest of the group. Although flexibles never reached the same abundance or diversity as many other crinoid groups, they remained a reliable component of crinoid faunas, particularly from the Silurian onwards. Flexible fossils are very rare in the Ordovician, but the Late Ordovician appears to have been an interval of rapid diversification for the group.

Flexibilia

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
CladidaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Crinoidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 199 million years on record.

The record covers at least 459.7 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Ordovician — about 150 of 655 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 133 of 655 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 71 of 655 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 226 of 655 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 75 of 655 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 655 occurrences476–468 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences468–460 Mya — about 2 occurrences460–453 Mya — about 59 occurrences453–445 Mya — about 86 occurrences445–438 Mya — about 24 occurrences438–430 Mya — about 51 occurrences430–422 Mya — about 50 occurrences422–415 Mya — about 24 occurrences415–407 Mya — about 10 occurrences407–400 Mya — about 4 occurrences400–392 Mya — about 3 occurrences392–384 Mya — about 12 occurrences384–377 Mya — about 8 occurrences377–369 Mya — about 5 occurrences369–362 Mya — about 10 occurrences362–354 Mya — about 12 occurrences354–346 Mya — about 31 occurrences346–339 Mya — about 91 occurrences339–331 Mya — about 28 occurrences331–324 Mya — about 10 occurrences324–316 Mya — about 15 occurrences316–308 Mya — about 3 occurrences308–301 Mya — about 39 occurrences301–293 Mya — about 5 occurrences293–286 Mya — about 33 occurrences286–278 Mya — about 15 occurrences278–270 Mya — about 7 occurrences270–263 Mya — about 8 occurrences263–255 Mya — about 6 occurrences255–248 Mya — about 1 occurrence459.7 Mya259.857 Mya476 Mya248 Mya

655 occurrences of Flexibilia 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

655 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

133 formations

Denley Limestone — 43.88°N, 75.49°WEdwardsville — 39.50°N, 86.50°WEdwardsville — 39.75°N, 86.67°WEdwardsville — 39.25°N, 86.33°WEdwardsville — 39.00°N, 86.25°WEdwardsville — 39.04°N, 86.50°WMuldraugh — 40.04°N, 86.87°WMuldraugh — 40.06°N, 86.90°WBorden — 38.50°N, 85.92°WBorden — 38.04°N, 85.72°WBorden — 38.08°N, 85.71°WBorden — 36.44°N, 88.06°WBorden — 37.70°N, 85.87°WBorden — 38.29°N, 83.32°WBorden — 37.96°N, 83.67°WFort Payne — 36.71°N, 85.48°WFort Payne — 36.95°N, 85.01°WFort Payne — 36.94°N, 85.01°WFort Payne — 36.78°N, 85.10°WFort Payne — 36.72°N, 85.37°WFort Payne — 36.54°N, 85.13°WFort Payne — 35.12°N, 87.44°WStanton — 41.02°N, 96.19°WStanton — 37.26°N, 95.77°WStanton — 37.70°N, 95.68°WStanton — 37.15°N, 95.83°WStanton — 37.13°N, 95.83°WStanton — 38.96°N, 94.97°WLower Limestone — 56.10°N, 3.18°WLower Limestone — 56.12°N, 3.47°WLower Limestone — 55.78°N, 3.33°WLower Limestone — 55.08°N, 2.90°WLower Limestone — 56.05°N, 3.40°WDunleith — 42.00°N, 90.50°WDunleith — 43.49°N, 91.87°WDunleith — 42.45°N, 89.08°WRochester Shale — 43.15°N, 77.62°WRochester Shale — 43.10°N, 79.06°WRochester Shale — 43.17°N, 78.68°WBarnsdall — 36.37°N, 96.24°WBarnsdall — 36.92°N, 95.90°WBarnsdall — 36.91°N, 95.96°WBarnsdall — 36.75°N, 96.06°WJupiter — 49.47°N, 63.62°WJupiter — 49.38°N, 63.60°WJupiter — 49.50°N, 63.30°WJupiter — 49.10°N, 61.70°WJupiter — 49.13°N, 62.35°WJupiter — 49.28°N, 62.10°WJupiter — 49.27°N, 62.33°WHenryhouse — 35.08°N, 98.24°WHenryhouse — 34.73°N, 96.63°WHenryhouse — 34.37°N, 97.00°WLudlowville — 42.76°N, 78.65°WLudlowville — 42.78°N, 78.86°WLudlowville — 42.78°N, 78.79°WBangor Limestone — 34.59°N, 87.63°WBangor Limestone — 34.52°N, 87.58°WRacine — 42.73°N, 87.78°WRacine — 42.88°N, 88.04°WRacine — 43.05°N, 88.01°WRacine — 43.01°N, 88.38°WRacine — 42.00°N, 88.00°WRacine — 41.85°N, 87.65°WBird Spring — 36.70°N, 114.42°WCallytharra — 25.88°S, 115.50°ECallytharra — 23.91°S, 114.95°EHongguleleng — 46.75°N, 86.14°EHongguleleng — 46.60°N, 85.98°EHongguleleng — 46.75°N, 86.13°EHongguleleng — 46.75°N, 86.27°EWise Lake — 43.28°N, 91.85°WWise Lake — 42.00°N, 90.50°WPlatteville — 44.98°N, 93.27°WPlatteville — 44.00°N, 92.00°WBloyd — 35.96°N, 95.32°WBloyd — 35.94°N, 95.27°WBloyd — 35.62°N, 95.17°WBloyd — 35.66°N, 94.99°WBloyd — 34.57°N, 96.59°WBloyd — 35.89°N, 94.30°WBloyd — 35.93°N, 95.14°WFort Payne Chert — 36.92°N, 84.96°WFort Payne Chert — 36.71°N, 85.37°WFort Payne Chert — 36.95°N, 84.98°WFort Payne Chert — 36.86°N, 85.13°WFort Payne Chert — 36.55°N, 85.51°WWaldron Shale — 39.00°N, 86.00°WWaldron Shale — 39.45°N, 85.67°WLaurel Limestone — 39.43°N, 85.63°W

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The named rock units Flexibilia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 109 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 80 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Flexibilia and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Flexibilia and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

2,362 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 390 sites for Flexibilia, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

116 references

Each of the 655 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. 104 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 content1

Picture of Flexibilia

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Flexibilia was found in Sketchfab.

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 itCladida through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Zittel 1895)