Woodward Original Early Drawing of Silurian Marine Life
WOODWARD, Alice B. (1862–1951).
Silurian Marine Life (Crinoid, Brittle-star, Corals, Nautiloid, Sea-scorpion, Crinoid, Cystid, Dalmanites, Lampshells, Trilobites).
Original Illustration in pen, ink and grey wash, heightened in white.
c.1905-1912.
10 5/8" x 7 5/8" sheet.
Original artwork for Henry R. Knipe's "Evolution in the Past". Illustrated on page 34.
1. Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. If one ignores the enigmatic Echmatocrinus of the Burgess Shale, the earliest known unequivocal crinoid groups date back to the Ordovician, 480 million years ago. There are two competing hypotheses pertaining to the origin of the group: the traditional viewpoint holds that crinoids evolved from within the blastozoans (the eocrinoids and their derived descendants, the blastoids and the cystoids), whereas the most popular alternative suggests that the crinoids split early from among the edrioasteroids.[24] The debate is difficult to settle, in part because all three candidate ancestors share many characteristics, including radial symmetry, calcareous plates, and stalked or direct attachment to the substrate.
2. Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens. From New Latin ophiurus (“brittle star”), from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, “serpent”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) (referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star). The first known brittle stars date from Early Ordovician.[14] Study of past distribution and evolution of brittle stars has been hampered by the tendency of dead brittle stars to disarticulate and scatter, providing poor brittle star fossils.[14] Until discoveries in the Agrio Formation of Neuquén Basin in the 2010s no fossil brittle star was known in the Southern Hemisphere, nor was any brittle star of Cretaceous age known.
3. The corals depicted are Zaphrentis and Favosites. Zaphrentis were solitary rugose (horn shaped) corals with calcitic skeletons. Favosites is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites (giving it the common name "honeycomb coral").[1] The walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores which allowed transfer of nutrients between polyps. Favosites, like many corals, thrived in warm sunlit seas, feeding by filtering microscopic plankton with their stinging tentacles and often forming part of reef complexes.[2] The genus had a worldwide distribution from the Late Ordovician to Late Permian.
4. Nautiloids are a large and diverse group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea that began in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living Nautilus and Allonautilus. Nautiloids flourished during the early Paleozoic era, where they constituted the main predatory animals, and developed an extraordinary diversity of shell shapes and forms. Some 2,500 species of fossil nautiloids are known, but only a handful of species survive to the present day.
5. Calymene Brongniart, 1822, is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, suborder Calymenina, that are found throughout North America, North Africa, and Europe in primarily Silurian outcrops. Calymene is closely related to Flexicalymene, and both genera are frequently found enrolled. Calymene trilobites are small, typically 2 cm in length. The cephalon is the widest part of the animal and the thorax usually has 13 segments.
6. Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct arthropods that form the order Eurypterida. The earliest known eurypterids date to the Darriwilian stage of the Ordovician period 467.3 million years ago. The group is likely to have appeared first either during the Early Ordovician or Late Cambrian period. With approximately 250 species, the Eurypterida is the most diverse Paleozoic chelicerate order. Following their appearance during the Ordovician, eurypterids became major components of marine faunas during the Silurian, from which the majority of eurypterid species have been described. The Silurian genus Eurypterus accounts for more than 90% of all known eurypterid specimens. Though the group continued to diversify during the subsequent Devonian period, the eurypterids were heavily affected by the Late Devonian extinction event. They declined in numbers and diversity until becoming extinct during the Permian–Triassic extinction event (or sometime shortly before) 251.9 million years ago.
7. Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Glyptocrinus is an extinct genus of sea lily that lived from the Middle Ordovician to the Early Silurian (471.8 - 436.0 Ma). Its remains have been found in North America.
8. Cystidea are an order of Crinoidea, mostly fossils of the Paleozoic rocks. They were usually roundish or egg-shaped, and often unsymmetrical; some were sessile, others had short stems.
9. Dalmanites is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida. They lived from the Late Ordovician to Middle Devonian. The trilobites of this genus have slightly convex exoskeletons with an average length of 4–7 cm (1.5–3 in). The cephalon is semicircular or parabolic. The glabella (center portion of the head) is often pear-shaped, and tapers outward toward the front. The glabella also always contains three pairs of obvious glabellar furrows. Also prominent are the large mosaic (schizochroal) eyes.
10. The Pentamerus community was an early Silurian community dominated by the large-shelled brachiopod (lamp shell) of the species Pentamerus oblongus. The community often included 5 to 20 associated species
11. Trilobites (meaning "three lobes") are a group of extinct marine artiopodan arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago), and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 300 million years.
View it on
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
WOODWARD, Alice B. (1862–1951).
Silurian Marine Life (Crinoid, Brittle-star, Corals, Nautiloid, Sea-scorpion, Crinoid, Cystid, Dalmanites, Lampshells, Trilobites).
Original Illustration in pen, ink and grey wash, heightened in white.
c.1905-1912.
10 5/8" x 7 5/8" sheet.
Original artwork for Henry R. Knipe's "Evolution in the Past". Illustrated on page 34.
1. Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. If one ignores the enigmatic Echmatocrinus of the Burgess Shale, the earliest known unequivocal crinoid groups date back to the Ordovician, 480 million years ago. There are two competing hypotheses pertaining to the origin of the group: the traditional viewpoint holds that crinoids evolved from within the blastozoans (the eocrinoids and their derived descendants, the blastoids and the cystoids), whereas the most popular alternative suggests that the crinoids split early from among the edrioasteroids.[24] The debate is difficult to settle, in part because all three candidate ancestors share many characteristics, including radial symmetry, calcareous plates, and stalked or direct attachment to the substrate.
2. Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens. From New Latin ophiurus (“brittle star”), from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, “serpent”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) (referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star). The first known brittle stars date from Early Ordovician.[14] Study of past distribution and evolution of brittle stars has been hampered by the tendency of dead brittle stars to disarticulate and scatter, providing poor brittle star fossils.[14] Until discoveries in the Agrio Formation of Neuquén Basin in the 2010s no fossil brittle star was known in the Southern Hemisphere, nor was any brittle star of Cretaceous age known.
3. The corals depicted are Zaphrentis and Favosites. Zaphrentis were solitary rugose (horn shaped) corals with calcitic skeletons. Favosites is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by polygonal closely packed corallites (giving it the common name "honeycomb coral").[1] The walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores which allowed transfer of nutrients between polyps. Favosites, like many corals, thrived in warm sunlit seas, feeding by filtering microscopic plankton with their stinging tentacles and often forming part of reef complexes.[2] The genus had a worldwide distribution from the Late Ordovician to Late Permian.
4. Nautiloids are a large and diverse group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea that began in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living Nautilus and Allonautilus. Nautiloids flourished during the early Paleozoic era, where they constituted the main predatory animals, and developed an extraordinary diversity of shell shapes and forms. Some 2,500 species of fossil nautiloids are known, but only a handful of species survive to the present day.
5. Calymene Brongniart, 1822, is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, suborder Calymenina, that are found throughout North America, North Africa, and Europe in primarily Silurian outcrops. Calymene is closely related to Flexicalymene, and both genera are frequently found enrolled. Calymene trilobites are small, typically 2 cm in length. The cephalon is the widest part of the animal and the thorax usually has 13 segments.
6. Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct arthropods that form the order Eurypterida. The earliest known eurypterids date to the Darriwilian stage of the Ordovician period 467.3 million years ago. The group is likely to have appeared first either during the Early Ordovician or Late Cambrian period. With approximately 250 species, the Eurypterida is the most diverse Paleozoic chelicerate order. Following their appearance during the Ordovician, eurypterids became major components of marine faunas during the Silurian, from which the majority of eurypterid species have been described. The Silurian genus Eurypterus accounts for more than 90% of all known eurypterid specimens. Though the group continued to diversify during the subsequent Devonian period, the eurypterids were heavily affected by the Late Devonian extinction event. They declined in numbers and diversity until becoming extinct during the Permian–Triassic extinction event (or sometime shortly before) 251.9 million years ago.
7. Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Glyptocrinus is an extinct genus of sea lily that lived from the Middle Ordovician to the Early Silurian (471.8 - 436.0 Ma). Its remains have been found in North America.
8. Cystidea are an order of Crinoidea, mostly fossils of the Paleozoic rocks. They were usually roundish or egg-shaped, and often unsymmetrical; some were sessile, others had short stems.
9. Dalmanites is a genus of trilobite in the order Phacopida. They lived from the Late Ordovician to Middle Devonian. The trilobites of this genus have slightly convex exoskeletons with an average length of 4–7 cm (1.5–3 in). The cephalon is semicircular or parabolic. The glabella (center portion of the head) is often pear-shaped, and tapers outward toward the front. The glabella also always contains three pairs of obvious glabellar furrows. Also prominent are the large mosaic (schizochroal) eyes.
10. The Pentamerus community was an early Silurian community dominated by the large-shelled brachiopod (lamp shell) of the species Pentamerus oblongus. The community often included 5 to 20 associated species
11. Trilobites (meaning "three lobes") are a group of extinct marine artiopodan arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago), and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 300 million years.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
