The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozoic Era. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the exact dates are uncertain by a few million years. The base of the Silurian is set at a series of major Ordovician–Silurian extinction events when up to 60% of marine genera were wiped out.
Orthoceras is a genus of extinct nautiloid cephalopod restricted to Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestones of the Baltic States and Sweden. This genus is sometimes called Orthoceratites. Note it is sometimes misspelled as Orthocera, Orthocerus or Orthoceros.
Joseph John Sepkoski Jr. was a University of Chicago paleontologist. Sepkoski studied the fossil record and the diversity of life on Earth. Sepkoski and David Raup contributed to the knowledge of extinction events. They suggested that the extinction of dinosaurs 66 mya was part of a cycle of mass extinctions that may have occurred every 26 million years.
A scolecodont is the jaw of a polychaete annelid, a common type of fossil-producing segmented worm useful in invertebrate paleontology. Scolecodonts are common and diverse microfossils, which range from the Cambrian period to the present. They diversified profusely in the Ordovician, and are most common in the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian marine deposits of the Paleozoic era.
†Archinacellidae is an extinct family of paleozoic molluscs of uncertain position.
Bucaniidae is an extinct family of Paleozoic molluscs of uncertain position possibly being either gastropods or monoplacophorans in the superfamily Bellerophontoidea. The family lived from the Lower Ordovician to the Devonian and have shells in which the apertural margins tend to flare. Most genera have a slit and selenizone, others some modification of this feature.
The Anomphalidae is an extinct family of fossil sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. These are archaeogastropods which are included in the suborder Trochina. The Anomphalidae lived during the Paleozoic, from the Silurian to the Middle Permian. According to some authorities these snails belong instead to the Euomphalacea.
†Holopeidae is an extinct family of paleozoic gastropod mollusks. These molluscs were stationary epifaunal suspension feeders.
Jangziceras is a genus of fossil nautiloid cephalopods from the Middle Silurian of southern China belonging to the Orthocerida incertae sedis, its familial association undetermined. The type is Jangziceras sichuanense Lai Chai-Geen. Its description falls within the characters of the Orthocerida.
Kionoceras is an extinct nautiloid cephalopod genus included in the orthocerid family Kionoceratidae with scattered worldwide distribution from the Middle Ordovician to the Lower Permian. Kionoceratids are orthocerids with prominent longitudinal ornamentation on their shells, sometimes augmented by secondary transverse ornamentation. Orthocerids are, of course, prehistoric nautiloides with generally straight and elongate shells, mostly with central or subcentral siphuncles.
Westonoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the Discosorida that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician that has been found in North America, Greenland, and Northern Europe. It is the type genus for the Westonoceratidae
Bumastus is an extinct genus of corynexochid trilobites which existed from the Early Ordovician period to the Late Silurian period. They were relatively large trilobites, reaching a length of 6 in (15 cm). They were distinctive for their highly globular, smooth-surfaced exoskeleton. They possessed well-developed, large compound eyes and were believed to have dwelled in shallow-water sediments in life.
Sinutropis is a genus of fossil sea snails, extinct euomphalid archaeogastropods from the Upper Silurian.
Megistaspis is a genus of trilobites in the order Asaphida and family Asaphidae.
Ampullinopsis is an extinct taxonomic genus of deep-water sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha. These sea snails were epifaunal grazers. Sea snails of this genus lived from Paleocene epoch to Miocene epoch.
Paleontology in Wisconsin refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The state has fossils from the Precambrian, much of the Paleozoic, and the later part of the Cenozoic. Most of the Paleozoic rocks are marine in origin. Because of the thick blanket of Pleistocene glacial sediment that covers the rock strata in most of the state, Wisconsin’s fossil record is relatively sparse. In spite of this, certain Wisconsin paleontological occurrences provide exceptional insights concerning the history and diversity of life on Earth.
Acodus is an extinct genus of conodonts.
The Letná Formation is a Late Ordovician geologic formation of the Prague Basin, Bohemian Massif in the Czech Republic. The formation crops out in the Czech capital, more specifically at Letná Hill, after which the formation is named. The type locality is located at Malá Strana, Holešovice district.
Dudleyaspis is an extinct genus of Lower to Middle Devonian odontopleurid trilobites that lived in a shallow sea that lay between Euramerica and Gondwana. It was named in 1949 by Prantl & Pribyl.
