Xyloiulus

Xyloiulus is an extinct genus of millipede that lived during the Late Carboniferous which grew up to 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) in length. Fossils of the animal have been found in North America and Europe. The fossils are typically found in Sigillarian stumps.

Xyloiulus

Jonathan Chen · 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
XyloiulidaePBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 316.9 Mya to 283.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 318.7 Mya to 274.4 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 15 of 17 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 2 of 17 occurrencesPermian320–318 Mya — about 3 occurrences318–317 Mya — about 4 occurrences317–315 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences315–313 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences313–312 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences312–310 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences310–309 Mya — about 3 occurrences309–307 Mya — about 4 occurrences307–306 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences290–289 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences287–286 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences286–284 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences284–283 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences281–280 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences280–278 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences278–277 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences316.9 Mya283.3 Mya319.6 Mya273.5 Mya

17 occurrences of Xyloiulus on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. 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

17 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

6 formations

Carbondale — 41.33°N, 88.37°WJoggins — 45.70°N, 64.45°WKladno — 49.71°N, 13.21°ELueders — 33.75°N, 99.13°WClear Fork — 33.82°N, 99.21°WPennine Lower Coal Measures — 53.53°N, 2.51°W

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The named rock units Xyloiulus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Xyloiulus and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Xyloiulus and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

267 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Xyloiulus, 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

11 references

Each of the 17 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 content1

Picture of Xyloiulus

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

No 3D scan of Xyloiulus 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

What may have been alongside itXyloiulidae through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cook 1895