Heterocyathus aequicostatus

Heterocyathus aequicostatus is a small species of coral in the family Caryophylliidae in the order Scleractinia, the stony corals. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region. It is a large polyp, solitary, free-living coral and is usually found on soft substrates.

Heterocyathus aequicostatus

Anne Hoggett · CC BY 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
HeterocyathusPBDB
Diet
microcarnivorePBDB, for Heterocyathus
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Heterocyathus
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Heterocyathus
Vision
blindPBDB, for Anthozoa
Environment
marinePBDB, for Scleractinia

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 22 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 22 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 22 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.7–9.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.3–8.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.9–8.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.5–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.7–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.9–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.1–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.4–4.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.6–3.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.2–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–809 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences809 ka–404 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences404 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.333 Mya129 ka12.1 Mya0 Mya

22 occurrences of Heterocyathus aequicostatus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

22 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

Miaoli — 24.57°N, 120.80°EMiaoli — 24.70°N, 120.87°EPucangan — 7.23°S, 112.75°EUpper Kalibeng — 8.00°S, 114.00°EMaanshan — 21.97°N, 120.76°ESumagui — 12.78°N, 121.47°ENakasi — 18.03°S, 178.52°ETunghsiao — 24.57°N, 120.70°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Heterocyathus aequicostatus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Heterocyathus aequicostatus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Heterocyathus aequicostatus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

126 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 9 sites for Heterocyathus aequicostatus, 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

11 references

Each of the 22 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 content1

Picture of Heterocyathus aequicostatus

Credit
Anne Hoggett
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Heterocyathus aequicostatus 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 itHeterocyathus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Milne-Edwards and Haime 1848