Macrocephalites

Macrocephalites is a genus of the stephanoceratoid ammonite family Macrocephalitidae, diagnostic of the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic. Three subgenera, Dolikephalites, Kamptokephalites, and Pleurocephalites are recognized in addition to Macrocephalites itself, with Indocephalites tentatively included as the fourth.

Macrocephalites

H. Zell · 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
MacrocephalitidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ammonoidea
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 161.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 143.1 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 104 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 104 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 99 of 104 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 4 of 104 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 104 occurrences203–201 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences201–199 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences199–197 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences197–194 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences192–190 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences190–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–186 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences186–184 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences184–182 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences182–180 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences180–178 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences178–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–174 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences174–172 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences172–170 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences170–168 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences168–166 Mya — about 5 occurrences166–164 Mya — about 30 occurrences164–162 Mya — about 49 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 16 occurrences160–158 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences158–156 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences154–152 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences152–150 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences150–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences146–144 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences144–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences165.3 Mya – 161.5 Mya203 Mya142 Mya

104 occurrences of Macrocephalites on record, most of them in the Middle Jurassic. 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

104 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

14 formations

"Berching" — 49.23°N, 11.47°EMarnes à Digonella divionensis — 47.32°N, 5.00°EMarnes à Digonella divionensis — 47.03°N, 4.83°EMarnes grumeleuses — 46.57°N, 4.90°EIfenthal — 47.46°N, 7.50°EBela — 23.87°N, 70.80°ECroûte ferrugineuse — 46.65°N, 4.87°Ebanc roux — 46.35°N, 4.80°E"Sengenthal" — 49.23°N, 11.47°EMenbu — 28.08°N, 86.00°EGadhada — 23.50°N, 70.50°EBedford Canyon — 33.79°N, 117.60°WCerritos Bayos — 22.56°S, 69.14°WLower Bailongbinghe — 32.33°N, 91.08°EYucunuti — 17.78°N, 98.62°W

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The named rock units Macrocephalites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 77 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Macrocephalites and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Macrocephalites and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

302 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Macrocephalites, 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

23 references

Each of the 104 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. 11 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 Macrocephalites

Credit
H. Zell
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

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 itMacrocephalitidae through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Zittel 1884)