Tarphophragma

Tarphophragma is an extinct genus of Middle and Upper Ordovician bryozoans of the family Halloporidae. Its colonies began from an encrusting base and grew into branching structures. Raised maculae made from mesozooecia and large autozooecia covered the colony's surface, and its autozooecia were arranged in a disorderly pattern. Its interzooidal budding pattern and integrate wall structure distinguish it from other genera.

No picture of Tarphophragma was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Tarphophragma, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HalloporidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Bryozoa
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Vision
blindPBDB, for Stenolaemata
Environment
marinePBDB, for Lophophorata

Time the record covers

At most 8.7 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 458.2 Mya and 449.5 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Ordovician — about 20 of 20 occurrencesOrdovician458–458 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences458–458 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences457–457 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences457–457 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences456–456 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences456–456 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences455–455 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences455–455 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences454–454 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences454–454 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences454–454 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences453–453 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences453–453 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences452–452 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences452–452 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences451–451 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences451–451 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences450–450 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences450–450 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences458.7 Mya449 Mya

20 occurrences of Tarphophragma 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

20 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

8 formations

Hermitage — 36.00°N, 83.00°WHermitage — 36.25°N, 83.97°WHermitage — 36.82°N, 84.52°WHermitage — 35.77°N, 85.01°WHermitage — 35.49°N, 85.26°WDecorah Shale — 42.50°N, 91.25°WCummingsville — 43.50°N, 91.50°WLexington Limestone — 38.00°N, 85.00°WAdvance — 56.03°N, 123.35°WClays Ferry — 38.00°N, 85.00°WLas Plantas — 29.75°S, 68.65°WLa Pola — 30.32°S, 68.49°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tarphophragma has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Tarphophragma and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Tarphophragma and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

83 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Tarphophragma, 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

6 references

Each of the 20 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 content0

No picture of Tarphophragma was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Tarphophragma, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

No 3D scan of Tarphophragma 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 itHalloporidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.