Orthoceras

Orthoceras, from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós), meaning "straight", and κέρας (kéras), meaning "horn", is a genus of extinct nautiloid cephalopod restricted to Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestones of the Baltic States and Sweden. This genus is sometimes called Orthoceratites and misspelled as Orthocera, Orthocerus, or Orthoceros.

A picture published with the record for Orthoceras.

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 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
OrthoceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Orthocerida
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Orthocerida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Orthocerida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Orthocerida

Time the record covers

At least 254 million years on record.

The record covers at least 481.7 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 483.4 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 570 occurrencesOrdovician — about 196 of 570 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 116 of 570 occurrencesDevonian — about 149 of 570 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 37 of 570 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 41 of 570 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 10 of 570 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 11 of 570 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 10 of 570 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 570 occurrences489–479 Mya — about 2 occurrences479–470 Mya — about 6 occurrences470–460 Mya — about 39 occurrences460–450 Mya — about 121 occurrences450–441 Mya — about 32 occurrences441–431 Mya — about 33 occurrences431–422 Mya — about 64 occurrences422–412 Mya — about 31 occurrences412–402 Mya — about 15 occurrences402–393 Mya — about 17 occurrences393–383 Mya — about 75 occurrences383–373 Mya — about 13 occurrences373–364 Mya — about 3 occurrences364–354 Mya — about 11 occurrences354–345 Mya — about 2 occurrences345–335 Mya — about 10 occurrences335–325 Mya — about 6 occurrences325–316 Mya — about 9 occurrences316–306 Mya — about 2 occurrences306–296 Mya — about 5 occurrences296–287 Mya — about 3 occurrences287–277 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences277–268 Mya — about 1 occurrence268–258 Mya — about 24 occurrences258–248 Mya — about 18 occurrences248–239 Mya — about 15 occurrences239–229 Mya — about 6 occurrences229–219 Mya — about 2 occurrences219–210 Mya — about 2 occurrences210–200 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences481.7 Mya227.3 Mya489 Mya200 Mya

570 occurrences of Orthoceras on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

570 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

194 formations

Skaneateles — 42.80°N, 76.69°WSkaneateles — 42.90°N, 76.47°WSkaneateles — 42.95°N, 76.43°WSkaneateles — 42.94°N, 76.25°WSkaneateles — 42.93°N, 75.99°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 76.15°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 76.14°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 75.89°WSkaneateles — 42.97°N, 76.44°WSkaneateles — 42.98°N, 76.34°WSkaneateles — 42.87°N, 75.56°WSkaneateles — 42.85°N, 75.58°WGeneseo — 42.67°N, 75.59°WGeneseo — 42.65°N, 75.44°WGeneseo — 42.62°N, 75.41°WGeneseo — 42.53°N, 74.93°WGeneseo — 42.50°N, 74.78°WGeneseo — 42.63°N, 75.46°WGeneseo — 42.56°N, 75.34°WGeneseo — 42.51°N, 74.68°WGydo — 33.30°S, 21.83°EGydo — 33.52°S, 24.74°EGydo — 33.33°S, 19.37°EGydo — 33.31°S, 22.43°EGydo — 34.01°S, 23.46°EOverton — 52.48°N, 2.63°WMoscow — 42.77°N, 76.03°WMoscow — 42.68°N, 75.57°WMoscow — 42.68°N, 75.46°WMoscow — 42.54°N, 74.87°WMoscow — 42.60°N, 74.60°WWitten Limestone — 37.20°N, 81.36°WWitten Limestone — 37.11°N, 81.52°WWitten Limestone — 37.02°N, 81.63°WWitten Limestone — 37.00°N, 81.00°WWitten Limestone — 37.03°N, 81.79°WWitten Limestone — 37.10°N, 81.62°WBaota — 27.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 28.00°N, 105.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 110.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 31.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 27.00°N, 101.00°EBaota — 31.00°N, 117.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 106.00°EDunleith — 43.00°N, 91.00°WFluminimaggiore — 39.43°N, 8.50°EFluminimaggiore — 39.32°N, 8.53°EShihtien — 25.00°N, 99.06°EShihtien — 24.77°N, 99.15°ECwm Rhiwarth — 53.00°N, 3.00°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.79°N, 91.52°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.45°N, 91.05°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.49°N, 91.32°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.34°N, 91.19°WStinava-Chabicov — 49.85°N, 17.52°EHunsrück Slate — 49.89°N, 7.47°EHunsrück Slate — 50.32°N, 7.25°EHunsrück Slate — 50.12°N, 7.83°EHunsrück Slate — 49.83°N, 7.37°EGratton Limestone — 37.22°N, 81.36°WGratton Limestone — 37.00°N, 81.00°WGratton Limestone — 37.10°N, 81.62°WWilliamson Shale — 43.00°N, 78.00°WWilliamson Shale — 43.00°N, 77.00°WWilliamson Shale — 43.00°N, 76.00°WWilliamson Shale — 43.00°N, 75.00°WCrown Point — 44.62°N, 73.42°WBedford Shale — 41.59°N, 81.57°WBedford Shale — 41.38°N, 81.56°WCaton Shales — 54.00°N, 2.83°WMcKenzie — 39.62°N, 78.22°WMcKenzie — 39.65°N, 78.76°WMcKenzie — 39.04°N, 78.71°WValcour — 44.89°N, 73.44°WValcour — 44.62°N, 73.42°WWadleigh Limestone — 55.49°N, 132.36°WChhidru — 32.44°N, 72.20°EChhidru — 32.42°N, 72.12°EChhidru — 32.48°N, 71.85°EAylmer — 45.55°N, 75.29°WAylmer — 45.37°N, 75.70°WAylmer — 45.39°N, 75.84°WAylmer — 45.88°N, 76.93°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Orthoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 170 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 152 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orthoceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Orthoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

1,974 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 502 sites for Orthoceras, 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

184 references

Each of the 570 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. 172 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 Orthoceras

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Orthoceras sp. · PSAL:ARCH:1400

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

This entry was cached before the site began recording what Smithsonian Open Access did, so a search that failed cannot be told from one that found nothing.

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 itOrthoceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Breynius 1832