Inoceramidae

Inoceramidae
Temporal range: Permian–late Cretaceous
Inoceramus from the Cretaceous of South Dakota
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pteriida
Superfamily: †Ambonychioidea
Family: †Inoceramidae
Giebel, 1852

The Inoceramidae are an extinct family of bivalves ("clams") in the Class Mollusca. Fossils of inoceramids are found in marine sediments of Permian to latest Cretaceous in age. Inoceramids tended to live in upper bathyal and neritic environments.[1] Many species of inoceramid are found all over the world, demonstrating the wide distribution of their preferred ecosystems, and possibly long-lived planktotrophic larvae.[2] Despite their wide distribution, the pace of evolution of inoceramids was great, with species ranges commonly averaging 0.2-0.5 Ma.[2]

Size

Gigantic specimen of Inoceramus steenstrupi 187 cm (74 in) across, from Greenland

Various species of inoceramids have achieved shell sizes ranging from small to large. Members of the Inoceramus and Cladoceramus genera have shells of more than 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length.[2] In 1952, a huge specimen of Inoceramus steenstrupi 1.87 metres (6 ft 2 in) long, was found in Qilakitsoq, the Nuussuaq Peninsula, Greenland. This fossil is 83 Ma old, the Upper Santonian or Lower Campanian stage.[3]

Taxonomy

Inoceramidae Giebel, 1852

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Paleoecologic Context", Pasch and May (2001); pages 224–225.
  2. ^ a b c Lower Turonian Euramerican Inoceramidae: A morphologic, taxonomic, and biostratigraphic overview. A report from the first Workshop on Early Turonian Inoceramids (Oct. 5-8, 1992) in Hamburg, Germany; organized by Heinz Hilbrecht and Peter J. Harries
  3. ^ "Verdens største musling". Archived from the original on 18 August 2022.

Further reading