Sphaerexochus

Sphaerexochus is a genus of trilobites from the Middle Ordovician to Late Silurian of Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

A picture published with the record for Sphaerexochus.

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
SphaerexochinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cheiruridae
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB, for Trilobita
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Trilobita
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Trilobita

Time the record covers

At least 46 million years on record.

The record covers at least 471.3 Mya to 425 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 477.1 Mya to 422.7 Mya.

Ordovician — about 151 of 236 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 85 of 236 occurrencesSilurian478–476 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences476–474 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences474–473 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences473–471 Mya — about 3 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 7 occurrences469–467 Mya — about 7 occurrences467–465 Mya — about 7 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 7 occurrences463–461 Mya — about 7 occurrences461–459 Mya — about 9 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 15 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 15 occurrences456–454 Mya — about 13 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 12 occurrences452–450 Mya — about 7 occurrences450–448 Mya — about 12 occurrences448–446 Mya — about 13 occurrences446–444 Mya — about 10 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 5 occurrences442–440 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences440–439 Mya — about 1 occurrence439–437 Mya — about 2 occurrences437–435 Mya — about 2 occurrences435–433 Mya — about 2 occurrences433–431 Mya — about 19 occurrences431–429 Mya — about 16 occurrences429–427 Mya — about 9 occurrences427–425 Mya — about 14 occurrences425–423 Mya — about 13 occurrences423–422 Mya — about 5 occurrences471.3 Mya425 Mya478 Mya422 Mya

236 occurrences of Sphaerexochus 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

236 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

Crown Point — 44.61°N, 73.42°WCrown Point — 44.64°N, 73.32°WCrown Point — 44.87°N, 73.41°WCrown Point — 44.84°N, 73.35°WCrown Point — 44.58°N, 73.53°WEsbataottine — 62.00°N, 127.00°WEsbataottine — 61.72°N, 125.93°WEsbataottine — 61.63°N, 125.73°WEsbataottine — 62.52°N, 124.78°WEsbataottine — 61.63°N, 125.75°WWhittaker — 62.00°N, 127.00°WWhittaker — 61.52°N, 124.87°WWhittaker — 62.47°N, 124.85°WWhittaker — 63.28°N, 125.35°WWhittaker — 61.48°N, 125.05°WWhittaker — 62.46°N, 124.88°WWhittaker — 62.38°N, 127.00°WWhittaker — 62.77°N, 125.25°WEdinburg — 38.99°N, 78.36°WEdinburg — 38.82°N, 78.55°WEdinburg — 36.88°N, 81.68°WEdinburg — 37.74°N, 79.51°WDelorme — 62.38°N, 127.00°WDelorme — 62.78°N, 125.25°WDay Point — 44.63°N, 73.45°WDay Point — 44.88°N, 73.46°WDay Point — 44.85°N, 73.33°WDay Point — 44.86°N, 73.33°WDay Point — 44.84°N, 73.36°WHemse Beds — 57.28°N, 18.32°EHemse Beds — 57.37°N, 18.69°EHemse Beds — 57.23°N, 18.37°EMotol — 50.05°N, 14.37°EMotol — 50.03°N, 14.32°EMotol — 49.97°N, 14.07°EMotol — 50.00°N, 17.78°EMotol — 49.77°N, 13.25°EMotol — 50.08°N, 14.47°EMingan — 50.21°N, 63.75°WMingan — 50.21°N, 63.90°WMingan — 50.21°N, 64.13°WMingan — 50.20°N, 63.61°WKildare Limestone — 53.17°N, 6.75°WKildare Limestone — 53.20°N, 6.92°WCape Phillips — 75.13°N, 95.00°WCape Phillips — 75.80°N, 94.50°WRacine — 42.73°N, 87.78°WRacine — 43.05°N, 88.01°WRacine — 43.01°N, 88.38°WRacine — 43.03°N, 87.90°WSlite Beds — 57.72°N, 18.80°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 12.93°EKopanina — 49.95°N, 14.22°EKopanina — 50.03°N, 14.32°ERacine Dolomite — 41.67°N, 88.00°WRacine Dolomite — 43.00°N, 88.00°WRacine Dolomite — 38.97°N, 90.43°WRacine Dolomite — 42.72°N, 87.78°WValcour — 44.62°N, 73.40°WValcour — 44.30°N, 73.31°WValcour — 44.89°N, 73.44°WBoda Limestone — 61.00°N, 15.13°EBoda Limestone — 61.17°N, 14.71°EBoda Limestone — 61.05°N, 15.20°ELangåra — 59.85°N, 10.50°ELangåra — 59.87°N, 10.56°EStinchar Limestone — 55.20°N, 4.75°WBalclatchie — 55.24°N, 4.78°WBalclatchie — 55.31°N, 4.80°WHusbergøya — 59.85°N, 10.50°ELinxiang — 33.00°N, 111.00°ELinxiang — 30.00°N, 111.00°ELinxiang — 31.00°N, 111.00°EGrande Coupe — 48.54°N, 64.25°WAnderken — 43.88°N, 75.55°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Sphaerexochus 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. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphaerexochus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Sphaerexochus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

2,388 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 228 sites for Sphaerexochus, 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

72 references

Each of the 236 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. 60 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 content1

Picture of Sphaerexochus

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

No 3D scan is on file for Sphaerexochus.

This entry was cached before the site began recording what Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab did, so a search that failed cannot be told from one that found nothing.

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 itSphaerexochinae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Beyrich 1845