Tempskya

Tempskya is an extinct genus of tree fern that lived during the Cretaceous period. Fossils have been found across both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The growth habit of Tempskya was unlike that of any living fern or any other living plant, consisting of multiple conjoined dichotomous branching stems enmeshed within roots that formed a "false trunk".

Tempskya

Ryan Somma · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
TempskyaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 89.8 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 16 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 7 of 16 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 9 of 16 occurrencesLate Cretaceous144–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences140–139 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences139–137 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences137–135 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences135–133 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences133–131 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences131–129 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences129–128 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences128–126 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences126–124 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences124–122 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences120–118 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences118–116 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences113–111 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences111–109 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences109–107 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences104–102 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences102–100 Mya — about 1 occurrence100–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 2 occurrences96–94 Mya — about 2 occurrences94–92 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences91–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121.4 Mya100.5 Mya144 Mya89 Mya

16 occurrences of Tempskya on record. 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

16 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

7 formations

Cedar Mountain — 39.07°N, 110.99°WCedar Mountain — 39.15°N, 110.91°WCedar Mountain — 39.05°N, 110.99°WCedar Mountain — 38.74°N, 109.72°WWinton — 22.08°S, 143.52°ESage Junction — 42.96°N, 111.29°WNaturita — 39.16°N, 109.07°WBurro Canyon — 38.37°N, 105.19°WAspen Shale — 43.66°N, 111.33°WPinilla de los Moros — 42.05°N, 3.24°W

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

Found in the same rock

31 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 12 sites for Tempskya, 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 16 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 content2

Picture of Tempskya

Credit
Ryan Somma
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itTempskyaceae through timeThe world it lived on

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