Musculus somaliensis

Musculus somaliensis is an extinct species of small saltwater mussel, a fossil marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. The size, shape and sometimes color of these fossils are reminiscent of a pistachio nut.

Musculus somaliensis

Dwergenpaartje · 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
Sits inside
MusculusPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Musculus
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Musculus
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Musculus
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 3.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 157.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 154.8 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 18 of 33 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 15 of 33 occurrencesLate Jurassic165–165 Mya — about 1 occurrence165–165 Mya — about 2 occurrences165–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences164–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences164–164 Mya — about 2 occurrences164–163 Mya — about 2 occurrences163–163 Mya — about 2 occurrences163–162 Mya — about 2 occurrences162–162 Mya — about 2 occurrences162–162 Mya — about 2 occurrences162–161 Mya — about 1 occurrence161–161 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences161–160 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences160–160 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences160–159 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences159–159 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences159–159 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences159–158 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences158–158 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences158–157 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences157–157 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences156–156 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences156–155 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences155–155 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences155–155 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences161.5 Mya157.9 Mya165.8 Mya154.3 Mya

33 occurrences of Musculus somaliensis on record. 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

33 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

Tataouine — 33.00°N, 10.47°ETataouine — 32.00°N, 10.47°EBihen Limestone — 10.23°N, 45.47°EBihen Limestone — 9.88°N, 43.57°EBihen Limestone — 10.15°N, 45.10°EAntalo — 13.62°N, 39.44°EAntalo — 13.63°N, 39.45°EHanifa — 24.53°N, 46.61°EHanifa — 25.56°N, 45.39°EAntalo Limestone — 12.98°N, 40.45°ETuwaiq Mountain — 24.55°N, 46.44°EArousiah — 30.70°N, 33.37°ETauriat — 30.70°N, 33.37°E

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The named rock units Musculus somaliensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

149 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Musculus somaliensis, 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

9 references

Each of the 33 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 content1

Picture of Musculus somaliensis

Credit
Dwergenpaartje
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Musculus somaliensis was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itMusculus through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cox 1935)