Tetragraptus

Tetragraptus is an extinct genus of graptolites from the Ordovician period.

Tetragraptus

Uncredited · 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
PhyllograptidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Graptoloidea
Life habit
planktonicPBDB, for Graptoloidea
Motility
passively mobilePBDB, for Graptoloidea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Graptolithina

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 477.1 Mya to 457.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 488.9 Mya to 443.1 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 236 occurrencesOrdovician — about 236 of 236 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 0 of 236 occurrences490–488 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences488–487 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences487–485 Mya — about 2 occurrences485–483 Mya — about 2 occurrences483–482 Mya — about 5 occurrences482–480 Mya — about 6 occurrences480–479 Mya — about 6 occurrences479–477 Mya — about 8 occurrences477–476 Mya — about 31 occurrences476–474 Mya — about 30 occurrences474–472 Mya — about 30 occurrences472–471 Mya — about 36 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 48 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 15 occurrences468–466 Mya — about 3 occurrences466–464 Mya — about 2 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 2 occurrences463–461 Mya — about 2 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 2 occurrences460–458 Mya — about 2 occurrences458–456 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences455–453 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences452–450 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences449–447 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences477.1 Mya457.2 Mya489.8 Mya442.2 Mya

236 occurrences of Tetragraptus 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

236 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

57 formations

Aorangi Mine — 40.60°S, 172.56°EAorangi Mine — 40.68°S, 172.68°EAorangi Mine — 40.72°S, 172.44°EAorangi Mine — 41.67°S, 172.39°ERollston Range — 20.53°S, 146.43°ELower Road River — 65.40°N, 137.38°WLower Road River — 66.17°N, 136.08°WLower Road River — 65.88°N, 135.67°WLeetse — 59.88°N, 31.59°ELeetse — 59.87°N, 31.43°ENingguo — 29.00°N, 115.00°ENingguo — 28.00°N, 118.00°ENingguo — 30.00°N, 120.00°ENingguo — 30.00°N, 119.00°ENingguo — 29.00°N, 119.00°EAcoite — 24.00°S, 66.00°WAcoite — 22.30°S, 65.30°WAcoite — 23.08°S, 65.70°WAcoite — 23.67°S, 65.69°WAcoite — 23.58°S, 65.69°WAcoite — 23.26°S, 65.64°WLa Alumbrera — 28.23°S, 67.70°WDawan — 33.00°N, 111.00°EDawan — 28.00°N, 109.00°EDawan — 30.00°N, 111.00°EDawan — 31.00°N, 111.00°EDawan — 30.86°N, 110.37°ETuloi — 52.22°N, 87.01°ETuloi — 52.02°N, 87.12°EKaradere — 41.35°N, 33.03°EKaradere — 41.27°N, 33.07°EMeitan — 28.00°N, 107.00°EMeitan — 29.00°N, 107.00°EMeitan — 27.00°N, 107.00°EMeitan — 27.00°N, 105.00°EPhi Kappa — 43.85°N, 114.18°WUpper Fezouata — 30.42°N, 5.85°WUpper Fezouata — 27.88°N, 11.42°WUpper Fezouata — 27.82°N, 11.40°WSakyna — 56.30°N, 22.86°ESakyna — 56.30°N, 23.80°EAl Rose — 36.96°N, 118.09°WToyen — 60.00°N, 11.00°EFlorentine Valley Limestone — 42.00°S, 146.00°EFlorentine Valley Limestone — 42.72°S, 146.48°EHuangyi — 26.00°N, 110.00°EHuangyi — 23.00°N, 110.00°EZhitai — 29.00°N, 109.00°EAguada de la Perdiz — 23.63°S, 67.27°WLandeyran — 43.47°N, 3.08°EGarden City — 41.92°N, 112.15°WGarden City — 41.83°N, 111.60°WShumardia Limestone — 46.81°N, 71.18°WCarachimayo — 21.62°S, 64.58°W

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The named rock units Tetragraptus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 33 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tetragraptus and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Tetragraptus and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

651 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 176 sites for Tetragraptus, 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

66 references

Each of the 236 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. 54 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 Tetragraptus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Tetragraptus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Salter 1863