Tarphycerida

The Tarphycerida were the first of the coiled cephalopods, found in marine sediments from the Lower Ordovician to the Middle Devonian. Some, such as Aphetoceras and Estonioceras, are loosely coiled and gyroconic; others, such as Campbelloceras, Tarphyceras, and Trocholites, are tightly coiled, but evolute with all whorls showing. The body chamber of tarphycerids is typically long and tubular, as much as half the length of the containing whorl in most, greater than in the Silurian Ophidioceratidae. The Tarphycerida evolved from the elongated, compressed, exogastric Bassleroceratidae, probably Bassleroceras, around the end of the Gasconadian through forms like Aphetoceras. Close coiling developed rather quickly, and both gyroconic and evolute forms are found in the early middle Canadian.

Tarphycerida

Apokryltaros · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
MulticeratoideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Cephalopoda
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 60 million years on record.

The record covers at least 483.4 Mya to 422.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 488.9 Mya to 419.62 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 387 occurrencesOrdovician — about 374 of 387 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 13 of 387 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 0 of 387 occurrences490–488 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences488–485 Mya — about 4 occurrences485–483 Mya — about 10 occurrences483–481 Mya — about 32 occurrences481–478 Mya — about 29 occurrences478–476 Mya — about 36 occurrences476–473 Mya — about 42 occurrences473–471 Mya — about 39 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 8 occurrences469–466 Mya — about 8 occurrences466–464 Mya — about 9 occurrences464–461 Mya — about 13 occurrences461–459 Mya — about 24 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 23 occurrences457–454 Mya — about 11 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 28 occurrences452–449 Mya — about 21 occurrences449–447 Mya — about 21 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 16 occurrences445–442 Mya — about 2 occurrences442–440 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences440–437 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences437–435 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences435–433 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences433–430 Mya — about 2 occurrences430–428 Mya — about 1 occurrence428–425 Mya — about 3 occurrences425–423 Mya — about 4 occurrences423–421 Mya — about 1 occurrence421–418 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences483.4 Mya422.7 Mya490 Mya418 Mya

387 occurrences of Tarphycerida 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

387 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

123 formations

Fort Cassin — 43.91°N, 73.42°WFort Cassin — 44.21°N, 73.25°WFort Cassin — 44.60°N, 73.44°WFort Cassin — 44.80°N, 73.50°WFort Cassin — 44.01°N, 73.60°WFort Cassin — 43.78°N, 73.64°WJefferson City — 36.95°N, 92.66°WJefferson City — 37.97°N, 91.69°WJefferson City — 37.64°N, 93.09°WJefferson City — 36.78°N, 92.23°WJefferson City — 36.91°N, 92.81°WJefferson City — 36.58°N, 92.61°WJefferson City — 37.61°N, 93.32°WJefferson City — 37.61°N, 93.41°WJefferson City — 36.78°N, 92.91°WJefferson City — 36.86°N, 92.89°WJefferson City — 36.93°N, 93.06°WJefferson City — 36.59°N, 92.70°WJefferson City — 37.12°N, 92.08°WJefferson City — 34.90°N, 98.73°WCotter — 36.21°N, 83.29°WCotter — 37.64°N, 93.09°WCotter — 36.62°N, 90.82°WCotter — 37.14°N, 90.08°WCotter — 36.93°N, 93.06°WCotter — 36.74°N, 93.03°WCotter — 37.90°N, 79.41°WCotter — 36.71°N, 81.98°WCotter — 38.42°N, 78.79°WCotter — 38.47°N, 78.87°WCotter — 36.91°N, 92.81°WCotter — 37.89°N, 92.70°WCotter — 36.38°N, 95.06°WCotter — 38.22°N, 90.38°WBoat Harbour — 50.71°N, 57.33°WBoat Harbour — 48.54°N, 58.74°WNaylor Ledge — 45.04°N, 73.07°WVasalemma — 59.24°N, 24.29°EVasalemma — 59.23°N, 24.23°ERochdale — 41.44°N, 74.36°WRochdale — 43.49°N, 73.38°WRochdale — 41.72°N, 73.85°WRochdale — 43.40°N, 73.45°WPowell — 36.23°N, 92.68°WPowell — 36.93°N, 93.06°WPowell — 38.23°N, 79.70°WPowell — 38.99°N, 78.36°WPowell — 36.33°N, 92.38°WElnes — 60.00°N, 11.00°EElnes — 59.90°N, 10.67°EElnes — 59.90°N, 10.63°EElnes — 60.70°N, 10.35°EElnes — 60.00°N, 11.17°EElnes — 60.71°N, 10.89°EElnes — 59.91°N, 10.81°EBaota — 29.00°N, 109.00°EBaota — 28.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 27.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 108.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 106.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 108.00°ESmithville — 36.08°N, 91.30°WSmithville — 36.11°N, 91.10°WRomaine — 50.24°N, 63.68°WRomaine — 50.30°N, 64.05°WHerøya — 59.11°N, 9.65°EHoneycut — 30.27°N, 97.74°WHoneycut — 31.02°N, 98.53°WHoneycut — 30.27°N, 98.35°WFrognerkilen — 60.00°N, 11.00°EFrognerkilen — 61.33°N, 8.80°EFrognerkilen — 59.88°N, 10.61°EFrognerkilen — 59.92°N, 10.72°EFrognerkilen — 59.82°N, 10.46°EVollen — 60.00°N, 11.00°EVollen — 59.37°N, 10.90°EVollen — 59.90°N, 10.63°EVollen — 59.84°N, 10.64°EVollen — 59.83°N, 10.43°EKindblade — 34.37°N, 97.13°WKindblade — 34.42°N, 97.27°WKindblade — 34.96°N, 98.63°WHusbergøya — 59.96°N, 10.48°EHusbergøya — 59.50°N, 10.33°EHusbergøya — 59.87°N, 10.21°EHusbergøya — 59.87°N, 10.72°EHusbergøya — 59.85°N, 10.50°EBønsnes — 66.77°N, 13.47°EBønsnes — 60.06°N, 10.21°EBønsnes — 59.98°N, 11.32°EBønsnes — 60.14°N, 10.30°ECroisaphuill — 58.62°N, 4.87°WCroisaphuill — 58.56°N, 4.77°WDenley Limestone — 43.21°N, 75.46°WDenley Limestone — 44.00°N, 75.00°WDenley Limestone — 43.28°N, 75.14°WKope — 38.87°N, 84.46°WKope — 39.00°N, 84.00°WKope — 39.03°N, 84.54°WFossil Hill Limestone — 34.00°S, 148.00°EFossil Hill Limestone — 33.59°S, 148.89°ELower Setul — 6.42°N, 99.95°E

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The named rock units Tarphycerida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 99 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tarphycerida and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Tarphycerida and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

1,960 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 278 sites for Tarphycerida, 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

95 references

Each of the 387 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. 83 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 Tarphycerida

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

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itMulticeratoidea through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Flower and Kummel 1950