''Dichograptus'' (meaning ''two-branched writing'' or ''double-line marks'') is an extinct genus of

graptolite Graptolites are a group of colonial animals, members of the subclass Graptolithina within the class Pterobranchia. These filter-feeding Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and ...

s from the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

. ''Dichograptus'' probably fed on plankton. Individual animals were very tiny, only growing a few millimeters in length (1/8 of an inch).

Distribution

Fossils of ''Dichograptus'' have been found in Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia (near

Caño Cristales ''Caño Cristales'' (; en, "Crystal Channel") is a Colombian river located in the Serrania de la Macarena, an isolated mountain range in the Meta Department. It is a tributary of the Guayabero River, itself a part of the Orinoco basin. Caño C ...

Meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

), New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom.''Dichograptus''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

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Distribution

References

Further reading