Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus

c_monedula · CC BY-NC 4.0 · via GBIF. 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
- northern horsemusselPBDB
- Sits inside
- Modiolus (Modiolus)PBDB
- Diet
- suspension feederPBDB, for Modiolus
- Life habit
- semi-infaunalPBDB, for Modiolus
- Motility
- stationary, attached, epibiontPBDB, for Modiolus
- Vision
- blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
- Environment
- lagoonal,coastal,inner shelf,outer shelf,oceanic,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Mytilidae
Time the record covers
At least 3.5 million years on record.
The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.
35 occurrences of Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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
35 occurrences- Pliocene24%
- Pleistocene73%
- Holocene3%
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
17 formations
- Chowan RIver Formation2
- Grotto Beach Formation2
- Lillo Formation2
- Palos Verdes Sand Formation2
- Limimtevayamskaya Formation1
- James City Formation1
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The named rock units Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus and its relatives
PleistoceneWhere Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.
Found in the same rock
1,206 taxa- Hiatella arctica9 sites
- Crepidula onyx6 sites
- Dentalium neohexagonum6 sites
- Lacuna (Epheria) unifasciata6 sites
- Lirobittium rugatum6 sites
- Saccella taphria6 sites
- Turritella6 sites
- Turritella cooperi6 sites
- Acteocina culcitella5 sites
- Antisabia panamensis5 sites
- Arctica islandica5 sites
- Astarte5 sites
- Caecum crebricinctum5 sites
- Caesia fossatus5 sites
- Caesia perpinguis5 sites
- Californiconus californicus5 sites
- Callianax biplicata5 sites
- Calliostoma canaliculatum5 sites
- Cryptomya californica5 sites
- Dallocardia quadragenarium5 sites
- Epilucina californica5 sites
- Fartulum dextroversum5 sites
- Fissurella volcano5 sites
- Hipponix tumens5 sites
The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus, 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
20 references- Stratigraphical notes on Macoma (Bivalvia) in the southern part of the North Sea Basin and some remarks on the arrival of Pacific species6
- Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene Mollusca from the James City and Chowan River Formations at Lee Creek Mine3
- Studies on the marine Pleistocene: Part II. The marine Pleistocene mollusks of eastern North America3
- Lateglacial oceanographic conditions off Southwest Iceland inferred from shallow-marine deposits in Reykjavik and Seltjarnarnes Peninsula2
- The Neogene Amphineura and Bivalvia (Protobranchia and Pteriomorphia) from Kallo and Doel (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium)2
- Stability of Late Pleistocene Reef Mollusks from San Salvador Island, Bahamas2
- Marine Molluscan Assemblages in the Early Pleistocene of Sidestrand, Bramerton and the Royal Society Borehole at Ludham, Norfolk2
- Late Pleistocene invertebrates of the Newport Bay area, California2
- Wood, 18502
- Unpublished census data from Atlantic coastal plain and circum-Caribbean Neogene assemblages and taxonomic opinions1
- Neogene and Paleogene Molluscan (Bivalvia) Cenozones of the Russian Northeast.1
- Neogene and Paleogene Molluscan (Bivalvia) Cenozones of Sakhalin and Kurile Islands1
Each of the 35 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. 8 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 Modiolus (Modiolus) modiolus
- Source
- GBIF
- Credit
- c_monedula
- Licence
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence does not allow it
CT scan
- Source
- MorphoSource
- Licence
- In Copyright
- Commercial use
- cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
- Specimen
- Modiolus modiolus · fmnh:invertebrate zoology:126621
3D model
- Source
- Sketchfab
- Credit
- The Watt Institution
- Licence
- CC Attribution
- Commercial use
- cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itModiolus (Modiolus) through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)