Sphaerulites

Sphaerulites

via iDigBio · CC0 · 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
RadiolitidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Hippuritida
Life habit
intermediate-level epifaunal, gregariousPBDB, for Hippuritida
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Hippuritida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Hippuritida

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 100.5 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 113.2 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 26 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 25 of 26 occurrencesLate Cretaceous114–113 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences113–111 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences110–108 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences103–101 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 1 occurrence100–98 Mya — about 3 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 3 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 3 occurrences96–94 Mya — about 3 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 2 occurrences93–91 Mya — about 2 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 2 occurrences90–88 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 1 occurrence83–81 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences100.5 Mya83.6 Mya114 Mya71.4 Mya

26 occurrences of Sphaerulites on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

26 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

4 formations

Bourg-des-Maisons — 45.45°N, 0.45°EGour-de-l'Arche — 45.45°N, 0.45°ECongost — 42.03°N, 0.83°EVallcarga — 42.03°N, 0.83°E

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The named rock units Sphaerulites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphaerulites and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

140 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Sphaerulites, 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

12 references

Each of the 26 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 Sphaerulites

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Sphaerulites was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itRadiolitidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lamarck 1819