Arctica

Arctica is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Arcticidae. In the present day this is a monotypic genus, however there are a number of additional species in the fossil record.

Arctica

Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ArcticidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Venerida
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Venerida
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Venerida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 236 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 283 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 1 of 283 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 5 of 283 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 283 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 2 of 283 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 33 of 283 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 91 of 283 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 56 of 283 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 7 of 283 occurrencesEocene — about 8 of 283 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 283 occurrencesMiocene — about 9 of 283 occurrencesPliocene — about 34 of 283 occurrencesPleistocene — about 29 of 283 occurrences252–244 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences244–235 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences235–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–218 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences218–210 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences210–202 Mya — about 4 occurrences202–193 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences193–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences185–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–168 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences168–160 Mya — about 8 occurrences160–151 Mya — about 21 occurrences151–143 Mya — about 6 occurrences143–134 Mya — about 21 occurrences134–126 Mya — about 18 occurrences126–118 Mya — about 14 occurrences118–109 Mya — about 17 occurrences109–101 Mya — about 20 occurrences101–92 Mya — about 39 occurrences92–84 Mya — about 9 occurrences84–76 Mya — about 6 occurrences76–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–59 Mya — about 4 occurrences59–50 Mya — about 7 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–17 Mya — about 6 occurrences17–8.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences8.4–0 Mya — about 65 occurrences237 Mya11.7 ka252 Mya0 Mya

283 occurrences of Arctica on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

283 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

75 formations

Kap Leslie — 70.48°N, 21.97°WKukpowruk — 69.41°N, 162.63°WKukpowruk — 68.90°N, 163.05°WKukpowruk — 68.99°N, 163.01°WKukpowruk — 68.99°N, 162.92°WKukpowruk — 69.23°N, 162.65°WKukpowruk — 69.25°N, 162.72°WKukpowruk — 69.16°N, 162.69°WKukpowruk — 69.29°N, 162.62°WBranderfleck — 47.67°N, 12.17°EGalala — 29.67°N, 34.50°EGalala — 30.38°N, 33.52°EGalala — 29.63°N, 34.40°ERaha — 29.13°N, 33.28°ERaha — 28.65°N, 33.24°ELillo — 51.25°N, 4.28°EKaskapau — 55.72°N, 121.20°WKaskapau — 55.95°N, 122.12°WKaskapau — 59.98°N, 119.89°WKaskapau — 55.88°N, 120.17°WHalal — 30.37°N, 34.45°ELondon Clay — 50.83°N, 0.78°WLondon Clay — 50.89°N, 1.28°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WRurikfjellet — 78.10°N, 13.95°EBearpaw — 49.36°N, 110.42°WBearpaw — 49.45°N, 112.83°WBearpaw — 50.67°N, 107.73°WCarolinefjellet — 77.62°N, 15.05°EVuache — 46.83°N, 6.52°ESagavanirktok — 69.97°N, 144.70°WLecze — 54.23°N, 19.46°ELecze — 54.27°N, 19.48°ELecze — 54.18°N, 19.45°ERed Crag — 51.97°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.75°N, 1.53°ELourinhã — 39.22°N, 9.34°WWeybourne Crag — 52.90°N, 1.37°EKhatiyah — 25.90°N, 56.07°EMishrif — 25.90°N, 56.07°EShellenberger Canyon — 31.84°N, 110.68°WShellenberger Canyon — 31.84°N, 110.49°WRat River — 68.07°N, 135.58°WKadyny — 54.28°N, 19.49°EKadyny — 54.23°N, 19.46°EFels — 48.50°N, 15.76°E

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The named rock units Arctica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 51 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 105 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Arctica and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Arctica and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

2,999 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 210 sites for Arctica, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

100 references

Each of the 283 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 88 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Arctica

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Miscodera Miscodera arctica · ETHZ:ENT:0577230

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itArcticidae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schumacher 1817