Syracosphaera

Syracosphaera is a genus of unicellular, marine coccolithophores belonging to the class Prymnesiophyceae in the phylum Haptophyta. Syracosphaera belongs to the family Syracosphaeraceae, which is the most species-rich family within the coccolithophores and contains approximately 25 percent of all current coccolithophore species. Syracosphaera is differentiated from other coccolithophore genera through its doubled layered coccosphere architecture, the production of two distinct coccolith types on a single coccosphere, which is the main diagnostic character of the genus. The body coccoliths cover the main surface of the cell and circum-flagellar coccoliths surround the space where the two flagella emerge.

Syracosphaera

Jeremy Young · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikidata/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
HaptophytaPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Haptophyta
Life habit
planktonic, depth=surfacePBDB, for Haptophyta
Motility
passively mobilePBDB, for Haptophyta
Environment
oceanic,oligotrophic,marine,brackishPBDB, for Haptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 1775 occurrencesOligocene — about 4 of 1775 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 92 of 1775 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 391 of 1775 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1279 of 1775 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 5 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 8 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 10 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 14 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 14 occurrences5.8–4.6 Mya — about 62 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 160 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 292 occurrences2.3–1.2 Mya — about 465 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 708 occurrences27.3 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

1,775 occurrences of Syracosphaera on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

1,775 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

1 formation

Blue Clay — 40.47°N, 17.30°E

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The named rock units Syracosphaera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1,774 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Syracosphaera and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Syracosphaera and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

109 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1,637 sites for Syracosphaera, and this reads 240 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 1,775 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Syracosphaera

Credit
Jeremy Young
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Syracosphaera 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.

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 itHaptophyta through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lohmann 1902