Saxidomus nuttalli

Saxidomus nuttalli is a species of large edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the venus clams. Common names include California butterclam and Washington clam.

Saxidomus nuttalli

Daderot · 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
Also called
California butter clamPBDB
Sits inside
SaxidomusPBDB
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 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 71 occurrencesMiocene — about 6 of 71 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 14 of 71 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 51 of 71 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 9 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 36 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

71 occurrences of Saxidomus nuttalli 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

71 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

18 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.71°N, 118.27°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.17°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.94°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.84°N, 120.41°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.74°N, 120.41°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.86°N, 120.46°WUnnamed — 33.24°N, 119.47°WJacalitos — 36.09°N, 120.41°WJacalitos — 36.04°N, 120.39°WJacalitos — 36.08°N, 120.49°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.56°WPico — 34.35°N, 118.52°WEtchegoin — 36.12°N, 120.41°WEtchegoin — 36.23°N, 120.31°WEtchegoin — 36.15°N, 120.65°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°WLomita Marl — 33.79°N, 118.34°WTemblor — 35.95°N, 120.21°WSan Pedro — 33.93°N, 117.95°WWildcat — 40.64°N, 124.31°WPancho Rico — 35.99°N, 120.91°WBay Point — 32.78°N, 117.24°WPalos Verdes — 33.63°N, 117.90°WAnchor — 34.04°N, 118.40°WNiguel — 33.64°N, 117.89°W

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The named rock units Saxidomus nuttalli 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.

Saxidomus nuttalli and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Saxidomus nuttalli and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,269 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Saxidomus nuttalli, and this reads all 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

35 references

Each of the 71 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. 23 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 content1

Picture of Saxidomus nuttalli

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itSaxidomus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Conrad 1837