Radiolaria

The Radiolaria, also called Radiozoa and informally called radiolarians, are unicellular eukaryotes of diameter 0.1–0.2 mm that produce intricate mineral skeletons, typically with a central capsule dividing the cell into the inner and outer portions of endoplasm and ectoplasm. The elaborate mineral skeleton is usually made of silica. They are found as zooplankton throughout the global ocean. As zooplankton, radiolarians are primarily heterotrophic, but many have photosynthetic endosymbionts and are, therefore, considered mixotrophs. The skeletal remains of some types of radiolarians make up a large part of the cover of the ocean floor as siliceous ooze. Due to their rapid change as species and intricate skeletons, radiolarians represent an important diagnostic fossil found from the Cambrian onwards.

Radiolaria

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
Also called
radiolarianPBDB
Sits inside
ReticulareaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
planktonicPBDB
Motility
passively mobilePBDB
Environment
marinePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 504 million years on record.

The record covers at least 504.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 508 Mya to 0 Mya.

Cambrian — about 103 of 12000 occurrencesOrdovician — about 99 of 12000 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 16 of 12000 occurrencesDevonian — about 338 of 12000 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 128 of 12000 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 3664 of 12000 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 390 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1187 of 12000 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1106 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 1043 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 610 of 12000 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 983 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 649 of 12000 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 261 of 12000 occurrencesPaleocene — about 130 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 54 of 12000 occurrencesOligocene — about 11 of 12000 occurrencesMiocene — about 141 of 12000 occurrencesPliocene — about 271 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 765 of 12000 occurrences518–501 Mya — about 22 occurrences501–484 Mya — about 100 occurrences484–466 Mya — about 45 occurrences466–449 Mya — about 32 occurrences449–432 Mya — about 14 occurrences432–415 Mya — about 4 occurrences415–397 Mya — about 8 occurrences397–380 Mya — about 153 occurrences380–363 Mya — about 158 occurrences363–345 Mya — about 59 occurrences345–328 Mya — about 58 occurrences328–311 Mya — about 21 occurrences311–294 Mya — about 20 occurrences294–276 Mya — about 72 occurrences276–259 Mya — about 483 occurrences259–242 Mya — about 4116 occurrences242–225 Mya — about 922 occurrences225–207 Mya — about 276 occurrences207–190 Mya — about 1258 occurrences190–173 Mya — about 331 occurrences173–155 Mya — about 701 occurrences155–138 Mya — about 989 occurrences138–121 Mya — about 379 occurrences121–104 Mya — about 65 occurrences104–86 Mya — about 222 occurrences86–69 Mya — about 50 occurrences69–52 Mya — about 159 occurrences52–35 Mya — about 43 occurrences35–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–0 Mya — about 1221 occurrences504.5 Mya11.7 ka518 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Radiolaria on record. 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

12,000 occurrences read

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. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 199 formations

Dalong — 23.32°N, 105.86°EDalong — 22.27°N, 107.69°EDalong — 26.10°N, 106.50°EDalong — 32.07°N, 106.00°EDalong — 25.86°N, 106.03°EDalong — 25.98°N, 107.14°EDalong — 22.36°N, 107.43°EDalong — 22.51°N, 107.68°ESandilands — 53.91°N, 133.15°WSandilands — 52.77°N, 131.56°WSandilands — 52.77°N, 131.55°WSandilands — 53.42°N, 132.27°WSandilands — 53.20°N, 132.06°WSandilands — 52.78°N, 131.96°WSandilands — 53.03°N, 131.88°WSandilands — 53.90°N, 133.15°WHashikadani — 35.68°N, 136.58°EMaiolica — 43.26°N, 12.81°EMaiolica — 43.13°N, 13.17°EMaiolica — 43.35°N, 12.71°EMaiolica — 43.48°N, 12.72°EMaiolica — 45.64°N, 9.95°EMaiolica — 44.00°N, 14.00°ESapadere — 36.42°N, 32.42°ETaman — 21.28°N, 98.82°WScaglia Bianca — 43.48°N, 12.72°EScaglia Bianca — 43.38°N, 12.62°EAmeghino — 64.47°S, 58.97°WAmeghino — 63.97°S, 58.17°WFang Chert — 19.53°N, 98.96°EGogo — 18.43°S, 125.90°EGogo — 18.57°S, 125.95°ESnowshoe — 44.13°N, 119.12°WSnowshoe — 44.13°N, 118.97°WSnowshoe — 44.08°N, 119.38°WSnowshoe — 44.00°N, 119.50°WSnowshoe — 44.00°N, 119.00°WOberalmer Schichten — 47.70°N, 13.07°EOberalmer Schichten — 47.73°N, 13.03°EOberalmer Schichten — 47.62°N, 13.25°EOberalmer Schichten — 47.68°N, 13.28°EJosephine — 41.87°N, 123.83°WJosephine — 42.00°N, 123.76°WGokdere — 36.58°N, 30.43°EGokdere — 37.69°N, 30.68°EGokdere — 37.59°N, 30.80°EHocakoey — 36.92°N, 31.64°ETatsuno — 35.05°N, 134.45°EOhio Shale — 41.28°N, 82.60°WOhio Shale — 41.23°N, 82.62°WGreen Point — 49.68°N, 57.95°WGreen Point — 49.83°N, 57.87°WGreen Point — 49.78°N, 57.84°W"Gufeng" — 24.15°N, 109.42°E"Gufeng" — 24.35°N, 109.48°E"Gufeng" — 23.75°N, 109.52°EMead Hill — 41.92°S, 174.07°ERosso Ammonitico Medio — 38.00°N, 12.83°EGufeng — 31.60°N, 117.82°EGufeng — 24.20°N, 109.43°ELiminangcong — 12.06°N, 120.18°ESemanggol — 6.15°N, 100.48°ESemanggol — 6.13°N, 100.48°ESemanggol — 6.10°N, 100.55°ESemanggol — 5.53°N, 100.63°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Radiolaria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 175 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 4,595 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,155 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 361 sites for Radiolaria, 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

at least 315 references

Each of the 12,000 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. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 302 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 Radiolaria

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

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itReticularea through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Müller 1858)