Orodontidae

Orodus is an extinct genus of orodontiform cartilaginous fish. Fossils are known from the late Devonian to Late Carboniferous of Europe, Asia and North America. Most species are only known from their rounded, ridge covered teeth, designed for crushing prey (durophagy). The genus has a long and complicated taxonomic history, and numerous species have been assigned to the genus that are now either considered invalid or unrelated to true orodontids. Two species, O. greggi and O. micropterygius from the Carboniferous of North America are known from remains preserving the body. O. greggi reached around 2–4 metres (6.6–13.1 ft) long, while O. micropterygius just reached 1 metre (3.3 ft). The largest species, O. ramosus, had a tooth width about 11 centimetres (4.3 in), and cross-scaling those teeth with related species with known body fossils implies a total length of 12–15 metres (39–49 ft), although these estimates have been considered unreasonable. These remains show that these species of Orodus lacked fin spines on their dorsal fins, and that they had small pectoral fins, and that the morphology of the teeth varied depending on their position in the mouth. Orodus was considered to be the only member of the family Orodontidae by Ginter et al. 2010. Like other orodontiforms, the closest living relatives of Orodus are thought to be chimaeras.

Orodontidae

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 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
OrodontiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Holocephali
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Holocephali
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Holocephali

Time the record covers

At least 82 million years on record.

The record covers at least 358.86 Mya to 276.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 382.31 Mya to 264.9 Mya.

Devonian — about 1 of 17 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 10 of 17 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 6 of 17 occurrencesPermian385–381 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences381–377 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences377–372 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences372–368 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences368–364 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences364–360 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences360–356 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences356–352 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences352–348 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences348–344 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences344–340 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences340–336 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences336–332 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences332–328 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences328–324 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences324–320 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences320–315 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences315–311 Mya — about 3 occurrences311–307 Mya — about 3 occurrences307–303 Mya — about 2 occurrences303–299 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences299–295 Mya — about 1 occurrence295–291 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences291–287 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences287–283 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences283–279 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences279–275 Mya — about 1 occurrence275–271 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences271–267 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences267–263 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences358.86 Mya276.8 Mya385 Mya263 Mya

17 occurrences of Orodontidae on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

17 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

10 formations

Lueders — 33.75°N, 99.15°WLueders — 33.75°N, 99.12°WCarbondale — 38.28°N, 87.17°WWood Siding — 38.74°N, 95.99°WGrenola Limestone — 38.37°N, 96.63°WIrati — 22.42°S, 47.65°WNaco — 34.33°N, 111.12°WStaunton — 39.85°N, 87.30°WLinton — 39.75°N, 87.34°WGrenola — 38.95°N, 96.40°WLost Burro — 36.75°N, 117.52°W

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The named rock units Orodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orodontidae and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Orodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

114 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Orodontidae, 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

10 references

Each of the 17 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. 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 Orodontidae

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Orodontidae was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource 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 itOrodontiformes through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. de Koninck 1878