Usage

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{{Geological range|first appearance (required)|last appearance|text to display|earliest=earliest putative fossil|latest=latest putative fossil|ref=References|prefix=anything to display before the range|PS=anything to display after the range}}
Note The first parameter (bold above) may not be omitted; in particular it is an error to specify only |earliest= and/or |latest=. Italic parameters are optional, bold required.

Geological range/doc
Temporal range: Carboniferous – early Cretaceous
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Petalonamae
Clade: Rangeomorpha
Genus: Rangea

Illustrates the fossil range of a taxon, the geological range of a stratigraphic unit, or other ranges on a geological timescale. Intended for use in {{taxobox}}es, {{Infobox rockunit}}s, and other infoboxes. For pre-Phanerozoic ages, see {{Long fossil range}}.

You can give a numeric range, or specify the periods involved. The range will be quoted in text before the timeline, unless you specify a third parameter—leaving it blank will result in no text being provided.

To illustrate the range when it spans before the Ediacaran (i.e. deep into the Precambrian), you should use Template:Long fossil range, which works in exactly the same way as documented here.

You can also specify "earliest" and "latest" to add a "ghost" bar beyond the accepted fossil range. You can use these parameters for whatever you like; they may be useful in the case of living fossils such as the coelacanth, where you may wish to specify latest=0 to make the bar faintly extend to the present; they may also be useful where "earliest" fossils are not universally accepted—for instance, the octocorals only have a good fossil record from the Ordovician, but there are claims of Cambrian representatives. In this case, you may wish to specify earliest=late Cambrian.

Examples

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{{Geological range|Permian}}
Permian
{{Geological range|Permian|Jurassic}}
Permian–Jurassic
{{Geological range|Permian|Jurassic|earliest=Devonian|latest=Cretaceous}}
Permian–Jurassic
{{Geological range|68|65|earliest=Permian|latest=0|PS= (see article for discussion)}}
68–65 Ma (see article for discussion)
{{Geological range|68|65.5|late Cretaceous}}
late Cretaceous
{{Geological range|68|65|}}

If you receive an error when specifying a period name, check you've spelt it right; if so, it probably isn't yet incorporated into the templates {{next period}} and {{period start}}. The pages are template protected due to their high use, but feel free to add an edit request on their talk pages to make future editors' lives easier!

See also

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For organisms whose fossil range extends significantly before the Ediacaran, use Template:Long fossil range.