Template:Long fossil range/doc

Usage

 * 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.

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 es, Infobox rockunits, and other infoboxes. For Phanerozoic ages, see Geological 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 after the Ediacaran (i.e. after the precambrian), you should use Template:Geological 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  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 Tertiary, but there are claims of Cambrian representatives. In this case, you may wish to specify.

Examples
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. This is really easy to do, so feel free to add the period yourself to make future editors' lives easier!