Gigantoproductus

Searched as Gigantoproductus giganteus crassus. The Paleobiology Database treats Gigantoproductus as the accepted name.

Gigantoproductus is a genus of extinct brachiopods in the order Productida and the family Monticuliferidae. The species were the largest of the carboniferous brachiopods, with the largest known species reaching 30 cm (12 in) in shell width. Such huge invertebrates appeared in the Mississippian as the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere began to rise. The earliest members of the Productida date back to the Silurian period, and Gigantoproductus is known to have existed between 339.4 and 318.1 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. As fossils, their shells occur within a limestone matrix.

Gigantoproductus

Mike Hosken · 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
GigantoproductiniPBDB
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 9 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 335.9 Mya and 326.9 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 2 of 2 occurrencesCarboniferous336–336 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences336–335 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences335–335 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences335–335 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences335–334 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences334–334 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences334–334 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences334–333 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences333–333 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences333–333 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences333–332 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences332–332 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences332–332 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences332–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–330 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences330–330 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences330–330 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences330–329 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences329–329 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences329–329 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences329–328 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences328–328 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences328–328 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences328–327 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences327–327 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences327–327 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences336.4 Mya326.4 Mya

2 occurrences of Gigantoproductus 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

2 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

2 formations

Underset Limestone VIII — 54.30°N, 2.15°WMain Limestone IX — 54.30°N, 2.15°W

Loading coastlines…

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

Gigantoproductus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Gigantoproductus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

482 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 46 sites for Gigantoproductus, 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

1 reference

Each of the 2 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 content2

Picture of Gigantoproductus

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
AVZ
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itGigantoproductini through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.