Zeacolpus

Zeacolpus is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Turritellidae, known as the turritellas or tower shells.

Zeacolpus

GrahamBould · Public Domain · via Wikidata/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
TurritellinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Turritellidae
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Turritellidae
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Turritellidae
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 60 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 129 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 85 occurrencesPaleocene — about 14 of 85 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 38 of 85 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 11 of 85 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 18 of 85 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 85 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 85 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 1 occurrence65–63 Mya — about 3 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 3 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 3 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 11 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 6 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 6 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 9 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.2–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences61.66 Mya774 ka67 Mya0 Mya

85 occurrences of Zeacolpus on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

85 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

25 formations

Rifle Butts — 45.18°S, 170.91°ERifle Butts — 45.03°S, 170.02°ERifle Butts — 45.12°S, 170.93°ERifle Butts — 45.08°S, 170.95°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 44.88°S, 170.77°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 44.97°S, 170.58°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 45.01°S, 170.71°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 44.92°S, 170.58°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 44.84°S, 170.52°ETapui Glauconitic Sandstone — 44.79°S, 170.90°EKauru — 45.06°S, 170.73°EKauru — 44.79°S, 170.51°EKauru — 45.04°S, 170.76°EKauru — 45.05°S, 170.77°EGhazij — 29.95°N, 70.12°EGhazij — 30.42°N, 70.51°EWangaloa — 46.20°S, 169.92°EWangaloa — 46.30°S, 168.52°EWangaloa — 46.18°S, 170.00°ETorehina — 36.67°S, 175.44°ETorehina — 36.65°S, 175.53°EIhungia — 40.27°S, 176.22°EIhungia — 40.35°S, 176.28°EWaihao — 44.20°S, 171.05°EWaihao — 44.16°S, 171.10°EOtekaike Limestone — 44.79°S, 170.51°EOtekaike Limestone — 44.86°S, 170.67°EPallinup — 33.97°S, 122.17°EPallinup — 33.83°S, 122.16°EMangaotuku Siltstone — 37.67°S, 175.15°EMangaotuku Siltstone — 37.25°S, 175.23°EWaihao Greensand — 44.78°S, 171.17°EOtaio Gorge Sandstone — 44.38°S, 170.99°EOtaio Gorge Sandstone — 44.52°S, 170.93°EWaiomio — 40.03°S, 175.48°EBroken River — 44.52°S, 170.93°EChatton — 46.01°S, 168.91°ERed Bluff Tuff — 44.30°S, 176.25°WTokama Siltstone — 44.31°S, 171.22°EWaikari — 43.98°S, 171.11°EWaikareka Volcanic — 44.64°S, 171.01°ELaki — 25.31°N, 67.90°EDegari — 30.08°N, 67.22°EOtaua — 35.57°S, 173.42°EPakaurangi — 36.02°S, 173.99°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Zeacolpus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Zeacolpus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Zeacolpus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

439 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 40 sites for Zeacolpus, 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

20 references

Each of the 85 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. 8 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 Zeacolpus

Credit
GrahamBould
Licence
Public Domain
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 itTurritellinae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Finlay 1926