Olenellidae

Olenellidae is an extinct family of redlichiid trilobite arthropods. Olenellids lived during the late Lower Cambrian (Botomian/Toyonian) in the Olenellus-zone in the former paleocontinent of Laurentia and parts of what became the Famatinian orogen in what is now Argentina. This family can be distinguished from most other Olenellina by the partial merger of the frontal (L3) and middle pair (L2) of lateral lobes of the central area of the cephalon, that is called glabella, creating two isolated slits.

Olenellidae

Dwergenpaartje · 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
OlenelloideaPBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Redlichiida
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Redlichiida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Redlichiida
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 24 million years on record.

The record covers at least 521 Mya to 497 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 486.85 Mya.

Cambrian — about 467 of 467 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 0 of 467 occurrences540–538 Mya — about 1 occurrence538–536 Mya — about 3 occurrences536–534 Mya — about 3 occurrences534–533 Mya — about 3 occurrences533–531 Mya — about 3 occurrences531–529 Mya — about 3 occurrences529–527 Mya — about 3 occurrences527–525 Mya — about 3 occurrences525–524 Mya — about 3 occurrences524–522 Mya — about 3 occurrences522–520 Mya — about 4 occurrences520–518 Mya — about 5 occurrences518–516 Mya — about 5 occurrences516–515 Mya — about 51 occurrences515–513 Mya — about 127 occurrences513–511 Mya — about 127 occurrences511–509 Mya — about 96 occurrences509–507 Mya — about 10 occurrences507–506 Mya — about 7 occurrences506–504 Mya — about 2 occurrences504–502 Mya — about 1 occurrence502–500 Mya — about 1 occurrence500–498 Mya — about 1 occurrence498–497 Mya — about 1 occurrence497–495 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences495–493 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences493–491 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences491–489 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences489–488 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences521 Mya497 Mya540 Mya486 Mya

467 occurrences of Olenellidae on record, most of them in the Cambrian. 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

467 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

43 formations

Carrara — 35.85°N, 116.23°WCarrara — 37.35°N, 116.13°WCarrara — 37.45°N, 115.73°WCarrara — 36.67°N, 116.32°WCarrara — 36.75°N, 117.07°WCarrara — 36.47°N, 116.75°WCarrara — 36.48°N, 116.73°WCarrara — 36.38°N, 116.60°WCarrara — 36.20°N, 116.35°WCarrara — 36.08°N, 116.23°WCarrara — 36.15°N, 116.97°WCarrara — 36.23°N, 116.98°WCarrara — 36.43°N, 116.98°WCarrara — 35.88°N, 116.16°WCarrara — 35.88°N, 116.06°WCarrara — 35.95°N, 116.31°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.31°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.41°WKinzers — 40.00°N, 76.73°WKinzers — 40.44°N, 75.12°WKinzers — 40.05°N, 76.36°WKinzers — 39.98°N, 76.76°WKinzers — 40.12°N, 76.33°WPioche — 36.19°N, 115.01°WPioche — 37.80°N, 114.57°WPioche — 40.64°N, 111.69°WPioche Shale — 36.19°N, 115.01°WPioche Shale — 37.77°N, 114.56°WPioche Shale — 37.61°N, 114.76°WPioche Shale — 37.53°N, 114.73°WPioche Shale — 40.00°N, 115.00°WPioche Shale — 37.62°N, 114.72°WPioche Shale — 37.94°N, 114.50°WForteau — 51.56°N, 56.75°WForteau — 49.52°N, 57.71°WForteau — 51.02°N, 57.00°WForteau — 50.59°N, 57.22°WForteau — 51.02°N, 56.81°WForteau — 51.46°N, 56.86°WForteau — 50.61°N, 57.14°WForteau — 51.02°N, 56.61°WForteau — 51.07°N, 56.69°WForteau — 50.98°N, 56.32°WForteau — 51.53°N, 56.82°WForteau — 51.47°N, 56.97°WForteau — 50.66°N, 57.04°WForteau — 50.65°N, 57.05°WSekwi — 63.52°N, 128.68°WSekwi — 63.58°N, 129.20°WSekwi — 63.37°N, 129.13°WLatham — 34.54°N, 115.48°WLatham — 34.58°N, 115.52°WLatham — 35.00°N, 115.53°WHarkless — 37.52°N, 117.53°WHarkless — 37.36°N, 117.36°WHarkless — 37.78°N, 117.75°WHarkless — 37.87°N, 117.86°WHarkless — 37.87°N, 117.84°WHarkless — 37.32°N, 117.77°WHarkless — 37.70°N, 117.47°WHarkless — 37.40°N, 117.28°WMural — 53.03°N, 119.23°WMural — 53.19°N, 119.16°WMural — 53.18°N, 119.13°WPoleta — 37.50°N, 117.50°WPoleta — 37.87°N, 117.86°WPoleta — 37.73°N, 117.32°WPoleta — 37.27°N, 118.09°WParker Slate — 44.48°N, 73.21°WParker Slate — 44.74°N, 73.16°WIlltyd — 65.09°N, 134.71°WHenson Gletscher — 82.00°N, 42.00°WHenson Gletscher — 82.15°N, 42.42°WHenson Gletscher — 82.17°N, 39.67°WHenson Gletscher — 82.29°N, 39.68°WStissing — 42.41°N, 73.53°WZabriskie Quartzite — 35.85°N, 116.23°WCadiz — 34.59°N, 115.52°WCadiz — 34.54°N, 115.48°WKap Troedsson — 81.74°N, 44.43°WKap Troedsson — 81.72°N, 44.60°WMount Clark — 64.94°N, 127.26°WMount Clark — 64.48°N, 126.79°WEmigrant — 37.72°N, 117.44°WEmigrant — 37.71°N, 117.45°WMule Spring Limestone — 37.71°N, 117.45°WMule Spring Limestone — 37.32°N, 117.77°WBuen — 83.05°N, 33.77°WBuen — 82.22°N, 29.97°WSofiekammen — 76.85°N, 15.95°ESofiekammen — 76.90°N, 15.98°EEager — 49.59°N, 115.69°WSt. Piran Sandstone — 52.83°N, 119.25°W

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The named rock units Olenellidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 19 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Olenellidae and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Olenellidae and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

391 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 221 sites for Olenellidae, 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

70 references

Each of the 467 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. 58 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 Olenellidae

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

No 3D scan of Olenellidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

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 itOlenelloidea through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Walcott 1890