Plectoceras

Plectoceras is a genus of nautiloids included in the tarphycerid suborder Barrandeocerina that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician. It has been found widespread in the Middle and Upper Ordovician of North America.

Plectoceras

via iDigBio · CC BY-SA · via iDigBio. 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
PlectoceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cephalopoda
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Barrandeocerida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 468 Mya to 457.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 27 occurrencesOrdovician — about 27 of 27 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 27 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences486–485 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences485–483 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences483–482 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences482–480 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences480–479 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences479–477 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences477–476 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences476–474 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences474–473 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences473–471 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences470–468 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 3 occurrences456–454 Mya — about 4 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 4 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 4 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 4 occurrences450–448 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences448–447 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences468 Mya457.3 Mya487.7 Mya442.2 Mya

27 occurrences of Plectoceras 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

27 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

15 formations

Cliffield — 37.17°N, 81.48°WCliffield — 37.13°N, 81.48°WCliffield — 37.08°N, 81.71°WDay Point — 44.60°N, 73.44°WGlenwood — 45.00°N, 93.00°WPlatteville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WMifflin — 43.00°N, 91.00°WGrand Detour — 43.00°N, 91.00°WNachusa — 43.00°N, 91.00°WMurfreesboro Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WQuimbys Mill — 43.00°N, 91.00°WYinshan — 41.00°N, 79.00°EWuting — 41.33°N, 123.72°ETyrone Limestone — 37.83°N, 84.55°WBardahessiagh — 54.60°N, 6.88°WValcour — 44.62°N, 73.41°WManitou dolomite — 38.47°N, 105.22°W

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The named rock units Plectoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Plectoceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Plectoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

272 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Plectoceras, 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

11 references

Each of the 27 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 Plectoceras

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY-SA
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itPlectoceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hyatt 1884