Metasequoia

Metasequoia, or dawn redwood, is a genus of fast-growing coniferous trees. It contains one extant (living) species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, which is one of three extant species of conifers known as redwoods in the world. Metasequoia glyptostroboides is native to Lichuan county in Hubei, China. Although the shortest of the redwoods, it grows to at least 165 feet in height. Local villagers refer to the original tree from which most others derive as Shuǐshān (水杉), or "water fir", which is part of a local shrine. Since its rediscovery in 1944, the dawn redwood has become a popular ornamental, with examples found in various parks in a variety of countries.

Metasequoia

Alpsdake · 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
Also called
dawn redwoodPBDB
Sits inside
SequoioideaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 90 million years on record.

The record covers at least 93.9 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 235 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 38 of 235 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 102 of 235 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 53 of 235 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 235 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 27 of 235 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 235 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 235 occurrences102–99 Mya — about 2 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 6 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 3 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 1 occurrence85–82 Mya — about 1 occurrence82–79 Mya — about 1 occurrence79–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–69 Mya — about 11 occurrences69–65 Mya — about 14 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 20 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 28 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 56 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 21 occurrences52–48 Mya — about 9 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–41 Mya — about 4 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 3 occurrences35–31 Mya — about 6 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 6 occurrences28–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 5 occurrences11–7.4 Mya — about 8 occurrences7.4–4.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.0–622 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence93.9 Mya3.6 Mya102 Mya622 ka

235 occurrences of Metasequoia on record, most of them in the Paleocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

235 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

38 formations

Fort Union — 45.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.36°N, 108.06°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 108.05°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 109.03°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 44.16°N, 107.85°WFort Union — 46.52°N, 103.88°WFort Union — 46.02°N, 103.76°WFort Union — 42.00°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 42.28°N, 108.11°WFort Union — 41.56°N, 108.58°WFort Union — 41.33°N, 109.24°WFort Union — 41.16°N, 108.92°WFort Union — 41.14°N, 109.06°WFort Union — 47.10°N, 104.72°WFort Union — 46.92°N, 103.52°WFort Union — 46.22°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 43.88°N, 108.52°WFort Union — 46.17°N, 108.43°WFort Union — 43.90°N, 107.52°WFort Union — 48.40°N, 109.27°WFort Union — 46.00°N, 103.00°WFort Union — 45.93°N, 105.87°WFort Union — 47.22°N, 104.67°WFort Union — 45.91°N, 106.22°WFort Union — 46.58°N, 105.88°WFort Union — 46.87°N, 105.44°WFort Union — 48.18°N, 110.12°WFort Union — 48.99°N, 105.27°WFort Union — 43.93°N, 108.65°WFort Union — 47.90°N, 102.82°WFort Union — 46.92°N, 103.83°WFort Union — 47.00°N, 103.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.51°N, 108.25°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.18°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.14°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 108.10°WWillwood — 44.40°N, 108.84°WHell Creek — 46.30°N, 103.86°WHell Creek — 46.15°N, 103.82°WHell Creek — 46.32°N, 104.96°WHell Creek — 46.15°N, 103.81°WHell Creek — 45.53°N, 101.63°WGolden Valley — 46.98°N, 102.05°WGolden Valley — 47.31°N, 102.11°WGolden Valley — 47.00°N, 101.55°WGolden Valley — 46.75°N, 102.75°WGolden Valley — 47.13°N, 101.82°WGolden Valley — 46.92°N, 102.58°WGolden Valley — 47.00°N, 102.67°WGolden Valley — 48.48°N, 102.72°WGolden Valley — 47.62°N, 102.75°WGolden Valley — 47.82°N, 102.77°WGolden Valley — 47.37°N, 103.02°WGolden Valley — 47.38°N, 103.26°WOkinoyama — 34.00°N, 131.00°EDunvegan — 54.92°N, 121.42°WDunvegan — 56.22°N, 120.12°WDunvegan — 56.00°N, 120.00°WDunvegan — 56.20°N, 120.93°WDunvegan — 55.72°N, 121.22°WDunvegan — 54.62°N, 118.47°WYagii — 36.08°N, 139.17°EItahana — 36.25°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.50°N, 139.00°EItahana — 36.32°N, 138.85°EChallis Volcanics — 44.37°N, 114.24°WJohn Day — 44.64°N, 120.30°WJohn Day — 45.00°N, 120.20°WJohn Day — 44.95°N, 120.33°WJohn Day — 44.14°N, 120.27°WJohn Day — 44.15°N, 120.31°WJohn Day — 44.57°N, 119.63°WProtection — 49.00°N, 124.00°WFort Union? — 44.18°N, 108.80°WFort Union? — 43.02°N, 106.09°WPaskapoo — 54.33°N, 118.75°WPaskapoo — 54.79°N, 115.51°WWasatch — 41.16°N, 108.93°WExtension — 49.00°N, 124.00°WTullock — 47.14°N, 107.33°WTullock — 45.37°N, 105.54°WWulonggu — 47.52°N, 87.08°EWillwood Formatin — 44.35°N, 108.07°WDaido — 36.67°N, 138.83°EOgawa — 36.42°N, 138.08°EYadagawa — 35.00°N, 136.00°ETokoname — 34.67°N, 136.92°ERavenscrag — 49.51°N, 109.02°WComox — 49.75°N, 125.00°W

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The named rock units Metasequoia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metasequoia and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Metasequoia and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

728 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 193 sites for Metasequoia, 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

32 references

Each of the 235 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. 20 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 content3

Picture of Metasequoia

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

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Metasequoia sp. · ku:kupb

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itSequoioideae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Miki 1941