Polychaeta

Polychaeta is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia which bear many chitinous bristles called chaetae, hence their name.

Polychaeta

Uncredited · Public Domain · 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
AnnelidaPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Vision
limitedPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 538 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 0 Mya.

Cambrian — about 23 of 1362 occurrencesOrdovician — about 209 of 1362 occurrencesSilurian — about 329 of 1362 occurrencesDevonian — about 42 of 1362 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 68 of 1362 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 5 of 1362 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 1362 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 10 of 1362 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 44 of 1362 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 11 of 1362 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 45 of 1362 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 76 of 1362 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 58 of 1362 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 346 of 1362 occurrencesPaleocene — about 7 of 1362 occurrencesEocene — about 13 of 1362 occurrencesOligocene — about 8 of 1362 occurrencesMiocene — about 22 of 1362 occurrencesPliocene — about 8 of 1362 occurrencesPleistocene — about 31 of 1362 occurrences648–626 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences626–605 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences605–583 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences583–561 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences561–540 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences540–518 Mya — about 4 occurrences518–497 Mya — about 19 occurrences497–475 Mya — about 10 occurrences475–453 Mya — about 34 occurrences453–432 Mya — about 220 occurrences432–410 Mya — about 279 occurrences410–389 Mya — about 22 occurrences389–367 Mya — about 15 occurrences367–345 Mya — about 14 occurrences345–324 Mya — about 25 occurrences324–302 Mya — about 14 occurrences302–281 Mya — about 18 occurrences281–259 Mya — about 3 occurrences259–237 Mya — about 9 occurrences237–216 Mya — about 25 occurrences216–194 Mya — about 26 occurrences194–173 Mya — about 6 occurrences173–151 Mya — about 87 occurrences151–130 Mya — about 53 occurrences130–108 Mya — about 37 occurrences108–86 Mya — about 18 occurrences86–65 Mya — about 331 occurrences65–43 Mya — about 14 occurrences43–22 Mya — about 14 occurrences22–0 Mya — about 67 occurrences538.8 Mya11.7 ka648 Mya0 Mya

1,362 occurrences of Polychaeta on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

1,362 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

304 formations

Kopanina — 49.94°N, 14.05°EKopanina — 49.96°N, 14.17°EProvidence — 31.91°N, 86.17°WProvidence — 31.97°N, 86.00°WProvidence — 31.86°N, 85.95°WProvidence — 31.92°N, 85.82°WProvidence — 31.89°N, 85.70°WProvidence — 31.95°N, 85.68°WProvidence — 31.92°N, 85.35°WProvidence — 31.94°N, 86.11°WProvidence — 31.84°N, 85.22°WProvidence — 31.75°N, 85.12°WProvidence — 31.82°N, 84.97°WProvidence — 31.89°N, 85.21°WPrairie Bluff — 34.25°N, 88.97°WPrairie Bluff — 33.93°N, 88.98°WPrairie Bluff — 33.73°N, 88.90°WPrairie Bluff — 33.03°N, 88.56°WPrairie Bluff — 32.67°N, 88.29°WPrairie Bluff — 32.70°N, 88.17°WPrairie Bluff — 32.63°N, 88.22°WPrairie Bluff — 32.43°N, 88.03°WPrairie Bluff — 32.39°N, 87.92°WPrairie Bluff — 32.23°N, 87.50°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.99°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.81°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.81°WPrairie Bluff — 31.97°N, 86.72°WPrairie Bluff — 32.00°N, 86.48°WPrairie Bluff — 31.98°N, 86.00°WPrairie Bluff — 31.98°N, 85.92°WCorsicana Marl — 33.53°N, 94.51°WCorsicana Marl — 33.51°N, 94.67°WCorsicana Marl — 33.10°N, 95.99°WCorsicana Marl — 32.92°N, 96.11°WCorsicana Marl — 32.86°N, 96.21°WCorsicana Marl — 32.04°N, 96.50°WCorsicana Marl — 31.74°N, 96.61°WCorsicana Marl — 30.38°N, 97.49°WCorsicana Marl — 30.37°N, 97.45°WCorsicana Marl — 30.28°N, 97.54°WCorsicana Marl — 30.20°N, 97.62°WCorsicana Marl — 29.63°N, 98.54°WCorsicana Marl — 29.44°N, 98.56°WCorsicana Marl — 29.39°N, 98.71°WCorsicana Marl — 29.37°N, 98.78°WCorsicana Marl — 29.42°N, 98.49°WCorsicana Marl — 29.57°N, 97.96°WPeedee — 34.04°N, 79.80°WPeedee — 33.91°N, 79.45°WPeedee — 33.83°N, 79.25°WPeedee — 34.27°N, 77.95°WPeedee — 35.77°N, 78.64°WChari — 23.50°N, 70.50°EOverton — 52.48°N, 2.63°WSevern — 38.80°N, 77.00°WSevern — 38.89°N, 76.85°WSevern — 38.92°N, 76.85°WSevern — 39.33°N, 76.03°WChiwapa — 34.63°N, 88.94°WChiwapa — 34.46°N, 88.90°WChiwapa — 34.38°N, 88.98°WChiwapa — 34.36°N, 88.93°WChiwapa — 34.21°N, 88.98°WChiwapa — 34.04°N, 88.93°WOread Limestone — 36.92°N, 96.28°WOread Limestone — 36.98°N, 96.29°WOread Limestone — 37.05°N, 96.41°WOread Limestone — 37.24°N, 96.07°WOread Limestone — 37.56°N, 95.98°WOread Limestone — 37.74°N, 96.04°WOread Limestone — 37.76°N, 95.99°WOread Limestone — 38.23°N, 95.74°WOread Limestone — 38.39°N, 95.62°WOread Limestone — 38.84°N, 95.39°WOread Limestone — 39.01°N, 95.30°WOread Limestone — 38.92°N, 95.25°WOread Limestone — 39.11°N, 95.11°WOread Limestone — 39.33°N, 94.93°WOread Limestone — 39.59°N, 95.00°WOread Limestone — 39.81°N, 94.87°WOread Limestone — 40.99°N, 96.19°WOread Limestone — 41.01°N, 95.88°WOread Limestone — 41.35°N, 94.30°WHemse Beds — 57.53°N, 18.43°EHulderstad — 58.84°N, 24.98°EBlack Creek — 35.77°N, 78.64°WBlack Creek — 34.48°N, 78.41°WBlack Creek — 34.67°N, 78.24°WBlack Creek — 34.58°N, 78.27°WBlack Creek — 35.23°N, 77.79°WBlack Creek — 35.46°N, 77.68°WBlack Creek — 35.67°N, 77.47°WHogklint Beds — 57.53°N, 18.43°EHogklint Beds — 57.83°N, 18.50°EVaureal — 49.83°N, 64.40°WMoe — 58.84°N, 24.98°EKorgessaare — 58.84°N, 24.98°EKope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WKope — 39.06°N, 84.44°WNew Albany Shale — 38.48°N, 85.75°WNew Albany Shale — 38.50°N, 85.59°WNew Albany Shale — 38.67°N, 85.67°WSlite Beds — 57.72°N, 18.80°EBurgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WSaunja — 58.84°N, 24.98°ECassian — 46.58°N, 12.25°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.54°N, 11.90°EMerchantville — 39.54°N, 75.72°WMerchantville — 39.95°N, 74.99°WMerchantville — 40.14°N, 74.72°W

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The named rock units Polychaeta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 280 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 175 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Polychaeta and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Polychaeta and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

1,887 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 775 sites for Polychaeta, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

329 references

Each of the 1,362 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. 317 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 Polychaeta

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Polychaeta indet. · TMNH:00856

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 itAnnelida through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Grube 1850