Nitzschia

Nitzschia is a common pennate marine and freshwater diatom. In the scientific literature, this genus, named after Christian Ludwig Nitzsch, is sometimes referred to incorrectly as Nitzchia, and it has many species described, which all have a similar morphology. In its current circumscription, Nitzschia is paraphyletic.

Nitzschia

Kristian Peters http://www.korseby.net/outer/flora/algae/index.html · 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
BacillariaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Bacillariophyceae
Environment
marine,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Bacillariophyceae

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 964 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 387 of 964 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 204 of 964 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 371 of 964 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 26 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 42 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 42 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 42 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 54 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 55 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 56 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 58 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 60 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 82 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 101 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 174 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 115 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

964 occurrences of Nitzschia on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

964 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

Embetsu — 44.35°N, 141.73°EKelseyville — 38.92°N, 122.88°WGadeb — 7.12°N, 39.37°ESanta Cruz Mudstone — 37.90°N, 122.72°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WFormación Coquimbo — 29.08°S, 71.46°WAlturas — 41.49°N, 120.65°W

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The named rock units Nitzschia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 954 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nitzschia and its relatives

Miocene

Where Nitzschia and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

336 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 628 sites for Nitzschia, and this reads 240 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

37 references

Each of the 964 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. 25 further references are not listed. 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 Nitzschia

Credit
Kristian Peters http://www.korseby.net/outer/flora/algae/index.html
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 itBacillariaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hassall 1845