Osteostraci

The class Osteostraci is an extinct taxon of bony-armored jawless fish, termed "ostracoderms", that lived in what is now North America, Europe and Russia from the Middle Silurian to Late Devonian.

Osteostraci

Uncredited · 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
OsteostracomorphiPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Chordata

Time the record covers

At least 56 million years on record.

The record covers at least 438.8 Mya to 382.31 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 372.15 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 331 occurrencesSilurian — about 102 of 331 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 229 of 331 occurrencesDevonian445–442 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences442–440 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences440–437 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences437–435 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences435–432 Mya — about 1 occurrence432–430 Mya — about 6 occurrences430–427 Mya — about 29 occurrences427–425 Mya — about 25 occurrences425–422 Mya — about 19 occurrences422–420 Mya — about 17 occurrences420–417 Mya — about 51 occurrences417–415 Mya — about 49 occurrences415–413 Mya — about 45 occurrences413–410 Mya — about 33 occurrences410–408 Mya — about 7 occurrences408–405 Mya — about 7 occurrences405–403 Mya — about 7 occurrences403–400 Mya — about 7 occurrences400–398 Mya — about 6 occurrences398–395 Mya — about 6 occurrences395–393 Mya — about 5 occurrences393–390 Mya — about 2 occurrences390–388 Mya — about 2 occurrences388–385 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences385–383 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences383–381 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences381–378 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences378–376 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences376–373 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences373–371 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences438.8 Mya382.31 Mya445 Mya371 Mya

331 occurrences of Osteostraci 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

331 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

64 formations

Dniester — 50.81°N, 27.32°EDniester — 49.29°N, 25.63°EDniester — 48.77°N, 25.61°EDniester — 49.01°N, 25.43°EDniester — 48.86°N, 25.48°EDniester — 48.91°N, 25.59°EDniester — 48.69°N, 25.62°EDniester — 49.06°N, 25.39°EDniester — 49.19°N, 25.37°EDniester — 48.80°N, 25.29°EWood Bay — 79.24°N, 13.40°EWood Bay — 79.45°N, 13.50°EWood Bay — 79.42°N, 13.77°EWood Bay — 79.45°N, 14.28°EWood Bay — 79.29°N, 13.72°EWood Bay — 79.23°N, 13.83°EWood Bay — 78.77°N, 15.48°EWood Bay — 79.39°N, 13.64°EWood Bay — 78.75°N, 15.70°EWood Bay — 79.48°N, 13.51°EBen Nevis — 79.63°N, 12.29°EHimmiste — 59.07°N, 24.79°EHimmiste — 58.27°N, 21.96°EHalla — 57.61°N, 18.80°EFraenkelryggen — 79.67°N, 12.37°ESundvollen — 60.17°N, 10.30°ESundvollen — 59.92°N, 10.75°ESundvollen — 60.07°N, 10.30°EOld Red — 48.79°N, 25.58°EOld Red — 48.68°N, 25.59°EOld Red — 49.06°N, 25.37°ERoad River — 63.33°N, 126.81°WTyver — 49.29°N, 25.63°ETyver — 49.16°N, 25.61°ETyver — 48.80°N, 25.74°ETyver — 48.64°N, 25.73°EVesiku Beds — 59.07°N, 24.79°ELedbury — 51.95°N, 2.88°WPsammosteus Limestone — 52.53°N, 2.48°WViita Beds — 59.07°N, 24.79°ESt Maughans — 52.13°N, 2.43°WSpokojnaya — 79.50°N, 96.00°EFreshwater West — 52.48°N, 2.64°WFreshwater West — 51.83°N, 3.00°WIvanie — 49.05°N, 25.72°EIvanie — 48.72°N, 25.63°EVelikoretskaya — 67.59°N, 49.12°EKnoydart — 45.62°N, 61.97°WKnoydart — 45.72°N, 62.20°WDundee Flagstone — 57.00°N, 4.00°WDundee Flagstone — 56.61°N, 3.00°WDundee Flagstone — 56.67°N, 2.77°WPeel Sound — 73.25°N, 93.50°WPeel Sound — 73.79°N, 98.58°WPeel Sound — 73.78°N, 98.47°WEscuminac — 48.11°N, 66.40°WSenni Beds — 51.86°N, 2.97°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Osteostraci has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 40 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 27 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Osteostraci and its relatives

Devonian

Where Osteostraci and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

793 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 139 sites for Osteostraci, 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

68 references

Each of the 331 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. 56 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 Osteostraci

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Osteostraci 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 itOsteostracomorphi through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lankaster 1868)