Pinnocaris

Pinnocaris is a genus of rostroconch mollusc known from the Cambro-Ordovician. It was once considered as a possible ancestor to the scaphopods, but this no longer seems tenable. Original descriptions from material in southern Scotland had the organism as a bivalved arthropod, but its univalved disposition has since become clear.

No picture of Pinnocaris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Pinnocaris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
RibeiriidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Rostroconchia
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Rostroconchia
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Rostroconchia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Rostroconchia

Time the record covers

At least 49 million years on record.

The record covers at least 488.3 Mya to 438.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 491 Mya to 432.9 Mya.

Cambrian — about 6 of 15 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 7 of 15 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 2 of 15 occurrencesSilurian492–490 Mya — about 2 occurrences490–488 Mya — about 4 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences486–484 Mya — about 1 occurrence470–468 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences466–464 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences464–462 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences460–458 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences458–456 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences456–454 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences452–450 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences450–448 Mya — about 1 occurrence448–446 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences446–444 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences440–438 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences438–436 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences436–434 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences434–432 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences488.3 Mya438.6 Mya492 Mya432 Mya

15 occurrences of Pinnocaris 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

15 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

9 formations

Pacoota — 23.75°S, 133.33°EPacoota — 23.62°S, 134.50°EPacoota — 23.65°S, 134.43°EPacoota — 23.79°S, 134.78°EPacoota — 23.81°S, 133.78°EStairway — 24.95°S, 132.44°ETomahawk — 22.70°S, 133.06°EBalclatchie — 55.23°N, 4.87°WDunleith — 42.85°N, 91.41°WSouth Threave — 55.29°N, 4.76°WWangjiawan — 32.80°N, 106.25°ENingqiang — 32.83°N, 106.27°EQuarrel Hill — 55.29°N, 4.75°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pinnocaris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Pinnocaris and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Pinnocaris and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

107 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Pinnocaris, 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

6 references

Each of the 15 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 content0

No picture of Pinnocaris was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Pinnocaris, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Pinnocaris 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 itRibeiriidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

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