Gigantoproductus giganteus

Gigantoproductus giganteus is an extinct species of brachiopods in the family Monticuliferidae, known only from its fossil remains. It was a marine invertebrate found on the seabed in shallow seas. It evolved during the Carboniferous period and it is believed to be the largest brachiopod that has ever existed.

Gigantoproductus giganteus

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
GigantoproductusPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Productidina
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Productidina
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Productidina
Vision
blindPBDB, for Strophomenata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At most 17 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 346.7 Mya and 330.3 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 7 of 7 occurrencesCarboniferous347–347 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences347–346 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences346–345 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences345–345 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences345–344 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences344–344 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences344–343 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences343–343 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences343–342 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences342–341 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences341–341 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences341–340 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences340–340 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences340–339 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences339–339 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences339–338 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences338–337 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences337–337 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences337–336 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences336–336 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences336–335 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences335–334 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences334–334 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences334–333 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences333–333 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences333–332 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences332–332 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences332–331 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences331–330 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences330–330 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences347.2 Mya329.8 Mya

7 occurrences of Gigantoproductus giganteus 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

7 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

6 formations

Murphy Road — 45.01°N, 64.13°WGayle Shale — 54.30°N, 2.15°WGayle Limestone II — 54.30°N, 2.15°WGayle Limestone Cyclothem — 54.30°N, 2.15°WMiddle Limestone V — 54.30°N, 2.15°WAlston — 54.80°N, 2.43°W

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

Gigantoproductus giganteus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Gigantoproductus giganteus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

227 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Gigantoproductus giganteus, 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 7 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Gigantoproductus giganteus

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

No 3D scan of Gigantoproductus giganteus 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 itGigantoproductus through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Martin 1809)