Phacops

Phacops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, that lived in Europe, northwestern Africa, North and South America and China from the Late Ordovician until the very end of the Devonian, with a broader time range described from the Late Ordovician. It was a rounded animal, with a globose head and large eyes, and probably fed on detritus. Phacops is often found rolled up ("volvation"), a biological defense mechanism that is widespread among smaller trilobites but further perfected in this genus.

Phacops

RealGatba · 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
PhacopidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Phacopina
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Phacopidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 99 million years on record.

The record covers at least 458.2 Mya to 358.86 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 469.4 Mya to 353.7 Mya.

Ordovician — about 24 of 251 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 14 of 251 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 212 of 251 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 1 of 251 occurrences472–468 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences468–464 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences464–460 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences460–456 Mya — about 1 occurrence456–452 Mya — about 5 occurrences452–448 Mya — about 10 occurrences448–444 Mya — about 7 occurrences444–440 Mya — about 3 occurrences440–436 Mya — about 5 occurrences436–432 Mya — about 3 occurrences432–428 Mya — about 1 occurrence428–424 Mya — about 2 occurrences424–420 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences420–416 Mya — about 2 occurrences416–412 Mya — about 6 occurrences412–408 Mya — about 9 occurrences408–404 Mya — about 9 occurrences404–400 Mya — about 9 occurrences400–396 Mya — about 14 occurrences396–391 Mya — about 17 occurrences391–387 Mya — about 28 occurrences387–383 Mya — about 45 occurrences383–379 Mya — about 17 occurrences379–375 Mya — about 2 occurrences375–371 Mya — about 2 occurrences371–367 Mya — about 4 occurrences367–363 Mya — about 16 occurrences363–359 Mya — about 29 occurrences359–355 Mya — about 5 occurrences355–351 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences458.2 Mya358.86 Mya472 Mya351 Mya

251 occurrences of Phacops 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

251 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

109 formations

Ludlowville — 42.86°N, 77.76°WLudlowville — 42.87°N, 77.88°WLudlowville — 42.83°N, 77.81°WLudlowville — 42.70°N, 76.75°WLudlowville — 42.83°N, 76.50°WLudlowville — 42.86°N, 76.35°WLudlowville — 42.93°N, 76.22°WPilton Shales — 51.08°N, 4.05°WWocklum Limestone — 51.40°N, 7.83°EDelorme — 63.30°N, 128.57°WDelorme — 63.28°N, 128.54°WMcColley Canyon — 38.87°N, 117.92°WMcColley Canyon — 39.60°N, 116.26°WChefar el Ahmar — 30.08°N, 2.24°WKunlein — 22.22°N, 98.34°EKunlein — 21.10°N, 97.72°EKunlein — 22.33°N, 98.34°EPortilla — 42.85°N, 1.84°EPortilla — 42.83°N, 5.65°WPortilla — 41.05°N, 3.33°WPortilla — 42.82°N, 5.27°WJemelle — 50.07°N, 4.61°EJemelle — 50.16°N, 5.26°EJemelle — 50.05°N, 4.47°EJemelle — 49.98°N, 4.70°EMangazea — 62.14°N, 91.56°ELisen — 49.20°N, 16.63°ELisen — 49.24°N, 16.76°EJunkerberg — 50.22°N, 6.67°EJunkerberg — 50.25°N, 6.67°EMahantango — 40.50°N, 77.25°WMahantango — 40.05°N, 77.52°WSkaneateles — 42.87°N, 77.87°WZlichov Limestone — 50.00°N, 14.00°EZlichov Limestone — 49.50°N, 14.33°EStinava-Chabicov — 49.85°N, 17.52°EStinava-Chabicov — 49.00°N, 17.00°EPal Grande — 47.00°N, 13.00°EPal Grande — 46.67°N, 12.98°EMariposas — 41.13°N, 1.07°WDaihua — 25.77°N, 106.38°EPapilio Mudstone — 19.55°S, 144.68°EPapilio Mudstone — 19.45°S, 144.77°EErfoud — 31.43°N, 4.22°WErfoud — 31.24°N, 3.82°WErfoud — 31.23°N, 3.98°WStourscombe — 50.63°N, 4.49°WStourscombe — 50.66°N, 4.40°WSkelgill — 54.32°N, 2.75°WNandan — 24.53°N, 115.58°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Phacops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 85 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 25 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phacops and its relatives

Devonian

Where Phacops and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

1,495 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 233 sites for Phacops, 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

97 references

Each of the 251 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. 85 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 content2

Picture of Phacops

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

3D model

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

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 itPhacopidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Emmrich 1839