Schizaster

Schizaster is a genus of heart urchins belonging to the family Schizasteridae. The type species of the genus is Schizaster studeri.

Schizaster

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
SchizasteridaePBDB
Diet
deposit feeder, detritivorePBDB, for Spatangoida
Life habit
shallow infaunalPBDB, for Spatangoida
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Spatangoida
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Echinoidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Spatangoida

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 202 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 3 of 202 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 18 of 202 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 86 of 202 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 24 of 202 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 60 of 202 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 202 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 202 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences72–68 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–62 Mya — about 7 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 5 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 7 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 7 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 8 occurrences48–44 Mya — about 13 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 13 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 22 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 18 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 10 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 9 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 5 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 11 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 14 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 16 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 9 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences66 Mya129 ka103 Mya0 Mya

202 occurrences of Schizaster on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

202 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

83 formations

Mokattam — 30.02°N, 31.27°EMokattam — 28.00°N, 30.75°EMoodys Branch — 31.50°N, 87.80°WMoodys Branch — 31.71°N, 87.78°WMoodys Branch — 31.55°N, 87.58°WMoodys Branch — 32.70°N, 83.56°WMoodys Branch — 32.33°N, 90.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WUpper Bhuban — 22.88°N, 92.73°EUpper Bhuban — 23.00°N, 93.00°EKaiata Mudstone — 41.63°S, 171.91°EKaiata Mudstone — 42.08°S, 171.35°EKaiata Mudstone — 42.14°S, 171.43°EKaiata Mudstone — 42.43°S, 171.32°ERoca — 37.67°S, 67.50°WRoca — 39.00°S, 67.53°WRoca — 36.90°S, 67.92°WBateque — 26.75°N, 113.00°WBateque — 26.67°N, 112.94°WBateque — 26.50°N, 112.73°WMartinez — 38.05°N, 122.15°WMartinez — 38.00°N, 122.10°WMartinez — 38.90°N, 122.60°WPietra Leccese — 40.08°N, 18.42°EPietra Leccese — 40.38°N, 18.18°ESanta Susana — 34.11°N, 118.57°WSanta Susana — 34.24°N, 118.74°WLlajas — 34.31°N, 118.67°WDammam — 25.49°N, 50.85°ETortonian Limestone — 35.00°N, 24.76°EYazoo Clay — 31.50°N, 87.80°WYazoo Clay — 31.65°N, 87.71°WTepetate — 31.30°N, 116.32°WTepetate — 24.17°N, 110.00°WGlendon — 31.11°N, 87.07°WGlendon — 31.86°N, 88.70°WGlendon — 32.26°N, 89.98°WBorutta — 40.83°N, 8.43°EVaqueros — 34.33°N, 119.03°WVaqueros — 34.36°N, 118.94°WVaqueros — 34.58°N, 120.16°WIsland Sandstone — 42.03°S, 171.35°ESan Julian — 46.87°S, 66.95°WSan Julian — 47.08°S, 66.70°WBlakeley — 47.58°N, 122.48°WMeganos — 37.95°N, 121.85°WPoivre — 20.75°S, 115.33°EPoivre — 20.67°S, 115.42°ENavidad — 44.65°S, 74.58°WNavidad — 33.95°S, 71.87°WOiching — 47.92°N, 13.00°E

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The named rock units Schizaster has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 59 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 47 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Schizaster and its relatives

Eocene

Where Schizaster and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,921 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 153 sites for Schizaster, 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

94 references

Each of the 202 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. 82 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 Schizaster

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows 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 itSchizasteridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1835