Mercenaria

Mercenaria is a genus of edible marine bivalves in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams. The genus includes the quahogs, consisting of Mercenaria mercenaria, the northern quahog or hard clam, and M. campechiensis, the southern quahog, both important species for human consumption.

Mercenaria

Ken Hammond · Public Domain · 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
quahogPBDB
Sits inside
VenerinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
infaunalPBDB
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 5 of 384 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 163 of 384 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 78 of 384 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 129 of 384 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 1 occurrence26–25 Mya — about 1 occurrence25–24 Mya — about 1 occurrence24–23 Mya — about 1 occurrence23–22 Mya — about 3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 7 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 7 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 7 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 7 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 6 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 22 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 23 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 15 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 7 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences8.4–7.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences7.4–6.5 Mya — about 8 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 8 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 13 occurrences4.6–3.7 Mya — about 15 occurrences3.7–2.8 Mya — about 42 occurrences2.8–1.9 Mya — about 34 occurrences1.9–928 ka Mya — about 30 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 85 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

384 occurrences of Mercenaria 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

384 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

52 formations

Yorktown — 37.22°N, 76.93°WYorktown — 37.23°N, 76.96°WYorktown — 36.44°N, 77.10°WYorktown — 35.54°N, 77.67°WYorktown — 35.51°N, 77.62°WYorktown — 37.29°N, 77.25°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 35.93°N, 77.57°WYorktown — 35.58°N, 77.19°WYorktown — 35.91°N, 77.49°WYorktown — 35.87°N, 77.09°WYorktown — 35.55°N, 77.48°WYorktown — 37.22°N, 76.49°WYorktown — 37.21°N, 77.40°WYorktown — 36.73°N, 76.58°WYorktown — 36.63°N, 76.98°WYorktown — 37.27°N, 76.71°WYorktown — 37.17°N, 76.77°WYorktown — 37.51°N, 77.21°WYorktown — 37.27°N, 76.57°WYorktown — 34.90°N, 78.05°WYorktown — 37.06°N, 76.63°WYorktown — 37.15°N, 76.74°WYorktown — 35.15°N, 77.14°WChoptank — 38.53°N, 76.52°WChoptank — 38.39°N, 76.57°WChoptank — 38.36°N, 76.48°WChoptank — 38.17°N, 76.80°WChoptank — 38.38°N, 76.38°WPamlico — 38.69°N, 75.77°WPamlico — 38.55°N, 75.08°WPamlico — 32.08°N, 81.10°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WPamlico — 32.78°N, 79.93°WPamlico — 34.04°N, 77.89°WPamlico — 34.78°N, 76.69°WPamlico — 35.00°N, 76.79°WPamlico — 35.25°N, 76.57°WPamlico — 35.64°N, 76.19°WPamlico — 35.70°N, 75.74°WPamlico — 35.50°N, 76.27°WPamlico — 36.33°N, 76.17°WPamlico — 32.87°N, 79.65°WKirkwood — 39.46°N, 75.30°WKirkwood — 38.94°N, 74.91°WKirkwood — 38.99°N, 74.82°WKirkwood — 39.08°N, 74.82°WKirkwood — 39.40°N, 75.04°WKirkwood — 39.47°N, 75.35°WKirkwood — 39.00°N, 75.12°WShoal River — 30.72°N, 86.12°WShoal River — 30.72°N, 86.04°WShoal River — 30.63°N, 86.17°WShoal River — 30.62°N, 85.98°WShoal River — 30.69°N, 86.65°WWaccamaw — 34.23°N, 77.94°WWaccamaw — 34.56°N, 78.49°WWaccamaw — 34.50°N, 79.11°WWaccamaw — 34.33°N, 78.20°WWaccamaw — 34.29°N, 78.51°WWaccamaw — 33.97°N, 78.39°WWaccamaw — 34.17°N, 78.60°WWaccamaw — 33.63°N, 79.16°WWaccamaw — 33.40°N, 79.25°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.63°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.55°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.42°N, 76.62°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.80°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WEastover — 37.22°N, 76.93°WEastover — 36.44°N, 77.10°WEastover — 37.10°N, 76.39°WEastover — 37.79°N, 76.72°WEastover — 37.17°N, 76.77°WEastover — 37.82°N, 76.75°WEastover — 37.69°N, 76.97°WSt Marys — 38.16°N, 76.45°WSt Marys — 38.17°N, 76.44°WSt Marys — 38.26°N, 76.42°WSt Marys — 38.27°N, 76.15°WSt Marys — 38.45°N, 76.46°WOak Grove — 30.90°N, 84.58°WOak Grove — 30.92°N, 86.57°WOak Grove — 30.97°N, 86.46°WOak Grove — 30.87°N, 86.52°WKubota — 37.50°N, 140.00°EAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WAcredale — 36.73°N, 76.34°WJames City — 35.28°N, 76.65°WJames City — 35.04°N, 76.99°WCaloosahatchee — 26.89°N, 82.01°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WCaloosahatchee — 26.76°N, 81.46°WCaloosahatchee — 26.96°N, 81.99°WDuplin — 35.00°N, 78.32°WDuplin — 34.62°N, 79.01°WDuplin — 34.90°N, 78.05°WDuplin — 34.50°N, 79.11°WTrent — 34.75°N, 77.43°WTrent — 34.77°N, 77.18°WTrent — 35.11°N, 77.04°WJackson Bluff — 30.39°N, 84.64°WJackson Bluff — 30.47°N, 84.99°WTentokuji — 39.75°N, 140.41°ETamiami — 26.89°N, 82.01°WTamiami — 25.90°N, 81.30°WTamiami — 27.33°N, 82.53°WFort Thompson — 27.06°N, 82.26°WFort Thompson — 27.72°N, 82.43°WFort Thompson — 26.75°N, 81.39°WFort Thompson — 26.79°N, 81.30°WChipola — 30.43°N, 84.98°WChipola — 30.06°N, 84.49°WChipola — 30.44°N, 84.28°WChipola — 30.47°N, 84.99°WKanomatazawa — 36.66°N, 140.10°EItahana — 36.00°N, 139.00°ESaint Marys — 38.17°N, 76.44°WSaint Marys — 37.86°N, 76.84°WSaint Marys — 38.18°N, 76.45°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mercenaria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 28 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 48 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mercenaria and its relatives

Miocene

Where Mercenaria and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,959 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 243 sites for Mercenaria, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

60 references

Each of the 384 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. 48 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 content3

Picture of Mercenaria

Credit
Ken Hammond
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Mercenaria mercenaria · FMNH:Invertebrate Zoology:3575

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itVenerinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

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