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Sphaeragnostus ✝
| Description | Sphaeragnostus is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It can be recognized by having two thorax segments, a totally effaced headshield (or cephalon), while the tailshield (or pygidium) although effaced, has a clear furrow parallel to its border, and a short, convex, subcircular axis. It lived during the Ordovician (upper Tremadoc to Ashgill). From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphaeragnostus, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | genus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Arthropoda : Trilobita : Agnostida : Sphaeragnostidae : Sphaeragnostus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Scientific Name | Sphaeragnostus Cooper & Kindle, 1936 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Name Published In | J. Paleont., 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extinct | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 466 Ma Middle Ordovician | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Recorded Appearance | 450 - 444 Ma Paleozoic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | marine (based on Trilobita) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | slow-moving (based on Agnostida) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vision | blind (based on Sphaeragnostidae) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | detritivore (based on Agnostida) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ontogeny | molting,addition of parts (based on Trilobita) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ecospace Comments | BODY SIZE: Data from Whittington et al. (1997). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | low Mg calcite, chitin (based on Trilobita) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. J. Sepkoski, Jr. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphaeragnostus |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Sphaeragnostus cingulatus ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 4 | 450 Ma Late/Upper Ordovician | 450 Ma Late/Upper Ordovician | |
| Sphaeragnostus gaspensis species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Sphaeragnostus similaris ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 3 | 458 Ma Middle Ordovician | 458 Ma Middle Ordovician | |
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1936 | Sphaeragnostus Cooper and Kindle |
| 1989 | Sphaeragnostus Ahlberg |
| 1997 | Sphaeragnostus Whittington et al. p. 382 |
| 2002 | Sphaeragnostus Sepkoski, Jr. |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
