Meretrix

Meretrix is a genus of edible saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams. The genus first appeared in the fossil record during the Cenomanian.

Meretrix

Anna Frodesiak · CC0 · 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
MeretricinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Veneridae
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Veneridae
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Veneridae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 351 million years on record.

The record covers at least 351.9 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Devonian — about 0 of 166 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 2 of 166 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 0 of 166 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 166 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 166 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 38 of 166 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 43 of 166 occurrencesEocene — about 36 of 166 occurrencesOligocene — about 11 of 166 occurrencesMiocene — about 21 of 166 occurrencesPliocene — about 8 of 166 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 166 occurrences366–354 Mya — about 1 occurrence354–342 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences146–134 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences134–122 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences110–98 Mya — about 3 occurrences98–85 Mya — about 8 occurrences85–73 Mya — about 13 occurrences73–61 Mya — about 40 occurrences61–49 Mya — about 24 occurrences49–37 Mya — about 22 occurrences37–24 Mya — about 16 occurrences24–12 Mya — about 18 occurrences12–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences351.9 Mya129 ka366 Mya0 Mya

166 occurrences of Meretrix on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

166 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

67 formations

Lefipán — 42.67°S, 69.98°WLefipán — 42.69°S, 69.84°WLefipán — 42.77°S, 69.85°WMishash — 30.17°N, 35.00°EMartinez — 38.05°N, 122.15°WMartinez — 38.02°N, 122.10°WMartinez — 38.90°N, 122.60°WRipley — 33.89°N, 89.02°WRipley — 35.32°N, 88.42°WRipley — 35.29°N, 88.60°WSilverado — 33.87°N, 117.71°WSilverado — 33.81°N, 117.76°WSilverado — 33.81°N, 117.68°WPromina — 43.95°N, 16.12°EPromina — 43.93°N, 16.07°EDakhla — 25.50°N, 30.00°EDakhla — 25.50°N, 30.50°EDakhla — 25.50°N, 29.17°EAbu Qada — 29.28°N, 34.72°EAbu Qada — 29.63°N, 34.40°EAbu Qada — 29.67°N, 34.50°EUpper Bhuban — 22.88°N, 92.73°EUpper Bhuban — 23.00°N, 93.00°ECerro Dorotea — 51.30°S, 72.32°WKurkur — 25.50°N, 29.42°EKurkur — 25.50°N, 30.00°EDuwi — 30.05°N, 31.25°ETupelo Bay — 33.25°N, 80.45°WTupelo Bay — 33.47°N, 80.49°WFukui — 33.16°N, 129.72°EChengapara — 25.17°N, 90.67°EFuranui — 42.52°N, 142.23°ELakhish — 31.91°N, 34.92°ETainohata — 34.75°N, 135.17°EGalala — 29.28°N, 34.72°EFahdene — 35.57°N, 8.09°ELlajas — 34.24°N, 118.76°WKhatiyah — 25.90°N, 56.07°EMishrif — 25.90°N, 56.07°ECross — 33.43°N, 80.77°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Meretrix has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 28 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Meretrix and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Meretrix and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

1,817 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 101 sites for Meretrix, 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

80 references

Each of the 166 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. 68 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 Meretrix

Credit
Anna Frodesiak
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Meretrix meretrix · fmnh:invertebrate zoology:309781

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 itMeretricinae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lamarck 1799)