Lithophaga nigra

Lithophaga nigra, or the Black date mussel, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. It can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America, ranging from southern Florida to the West Indies.

Lithophaga nigra

via iDigBio · CC BY-NC · via iDigBio. 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
LithophagaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Lithophaga
Life habit
boringPBDB, for Lithophaga
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Lithophaga
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
lagoonal,coastal,inner shelf,outer shelf,oceanic,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Mytilidae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 1 of 15 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 15 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 15 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 4 of 15 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 15 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 15 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka60 Mya0 Mya

15 occurrences of Lithophaga nigra on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

15 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

8 formations

Salt Mountain Limestone — 31.43°N, 87.92°WGatuncillo — 9.18°N, 79.55°WCercado — 19.53°N, 71.27°WArcadia — 27.89°N, 82.48°WBelmont — 32.33°N, 64.69°WFalmouth — 18.47°N, 77.45°WMorne Diablo Limestone — 10.08°N, 61.47°WSeroe Domi — 12.17°N, 68.99°W

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The named rock units Lithophaga nigra has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lithophaga nigra and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lithophaga nigra and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

400 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Lithophaga nigra, 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

11 references

Each of the 15 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. 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 Lithophaga nigra

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY-NC
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lithophaga nigra · FMNH:Invertebrate Zoology:227440

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 itLithophaga through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (d'Orbigny 1845)