Nostolepis

Nostolepis is an extinct genus of acanthodian fish which lived from the Silurian (Wenlock) to the Middle Devonian (Givetian). Members of the genus include Nostolepis gracilis and Nostolepis striata. Nostolepis might have preyed on trilobites, such as Deiphon

Nostolepis

Qiang Li, Xindong Cui, Plamen Stanislavov Andreev, Wenjin Zhao, Jianhua Wang, Lijian Peng and Min Zhu · CC BY 4.0 · 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
ClimatiidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Acanthodii
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Acanthodii
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Acanthodii

Time the record covers

At least 44 million years on record.

The record covers at least 426.7 Mya to 382.31 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 432.9 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Silurian — about 27 of 65 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 38 of 65 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 65 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences432–429 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences429–427 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences427–424 Mya — about 4 occurrences424–422 Mya — about 12 occurrences422–419 Mya — about 11 occurrences419–416 Mya — about 4 occurrences416–414 Mya — about 4 occurrences414–411 Mya — about 2 occurrences411–409 Mya — about 2 occurrences409–406 Mya — about 3 occurrences406–404 Mya — about 3 occurrences404–401 Mya — about 3 occurrences401–398 Mya — about 3 occurrences398–396 Mya — about 3 occurrences396–393 Mya — about 3 occurrences393–391 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences391–388 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences388–386 Mya — about 1 occurrence386–383 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences383–380 Mya — about 2 occurrences380–378 Mya — about 1 occurrence378–375 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences375–373 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences373–370 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences370–368 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences368–365 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences365–363 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences363–360 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences360–357 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences426.7 Mya382.31 Mya434 Mya357 Mya

65 occurrences of Nostolepis on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

65 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

34 formations

Windmill Limestone — 39.96°N, 116.58°WSalairka Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°EShanda Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°EYulongsi — 25.45°N, 103.77°ELoo Beds — 59.07°N, 24.79°EBelovo Horizon — 54.28°N, 85.93°ELankey Limestone — 42.12°S, 171.85°EKaugatuma — 58.12°N, 22.19°EOhesaare — 58.00°N, 22.02°ELapes — 55.27°N, 24.81°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°EJura — 56.89°N, 21.20°ESutherland River — 70.00°N, 95.00°WHemse Beds — 57.28°N, 18.62°EHimmiste — 59.07°N, 24.79°EUduvere Beds — 59.07°N, 24.79°EAigu — 59.07°N, 24.79°ELievin — 50.42°N, 2.77°EXitun — 25.49°N, 103.80°EMiaogou — 33.57°N, 102.95°EMiaogao — 25.45°N, 103.77°EKudjape — 58.27°N, 22.52°ECuche — 6.58°N, 75.67°WGauja — 58.01°N, 25.38°E

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The named rock units Nostolepis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nostolepis and its relatives

Devonian

Where Nostolepis and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

569 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Nostolepis, 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

25 references

Each of the 65 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. 13 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 content1

Picture of Nostolepis

Credit
Qiang Li, Xindong Cui, Plamen Stanislavov Andreev, Wenjin Zhao, Jianhua Wang, Lijian Peng and Min Zhu
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Nostolepis 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 itClimatiidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Pander 1856