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Species diversity in the Phanerozoic: a tabulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

David M. Raup
David M. Raup*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Rochester; Rochester, New York 14627
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Abstract

On the basis of about 70,000 species citations in the Zoological Record, it is estimated that about 190,000 fossil invertebrate species were described and named through 1970. The true figure may be higher because of incompleteness of the Zoological Record or lower because the estimate does not account for synonymy.

About 70% of the species were described from USSR, Europe, and North America. About 42% are Paleozoic, 28% Mesozoic, and 30% Cenozoic. In the Cambrian part of the sample, 75% of the species are trilobites. In the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, about 70% are either molluscs or protozoans.

When the data are normalized for absolute time, diversity (species per million years) shows a Paleozoic high in the Devonian which is approximately four-tenths of the Cenozoic level.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , Fall 1976 , pp. 279 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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