Melissa

Melissa is a genus of perennial herbs in the family Lamiaceae. Its species are native to Europe and Asia but cultivated and naturalized in many other places. The name Melissa is derived from the Greek word μέλισσα (mélissa) meaning "honeybee", owing to the abundance of nectar in the flowers. The stems are square, like most other plants in the mint family. The leaves are borne in opposite pairs on the stems, and are usually ovate or heart-shaped and emit a lemony scent when bruised. Axillary spikes of white or yellowish flowers appear in the summer.

A picture published with the record for Melissa. What it shows has not been checked.

Uncredited · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
lemon balmPBDB
Sits inside
PlantaePBDB

Time the record covers

At most 5.4 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 11.7 ka, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 3 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 3 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 3 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.0 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.8 Mya0 Mya

3 occurrences of Melissa on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

3 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

1 formation

Santa Maria di Ciciliano — 42.65°N, 12.49°E

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The named rock units Melissa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Melissa and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Melissa and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

24 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Melissa, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

3 references

Each of the 3 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 content3

Picture of Melissa

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Vampyressa melissa · AMNH:Mammals:M-233761

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itPlantae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753