Similodonta

Similodonta is an extinct genus of early bivalve in the extinct family Praenuculidae. The genus is one of eleven genera in the subfamily Praenuculinae. Similodonta is known from Middle Ordovician through Middle Silurian fossils found in Europe and North America. The genus currently contains eight accepted species, Similodonta ceryx, Similodonta collina, Similodonta djupvikensis, Similodonta magna, Smilodonta minor, Similodonta recurva, Similodonta spjeldnaesi, Similodonta wahli and the type species Similodonta similis.

Similodonta

Fossiladder13 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
SimilodontidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Bivalvia
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Bivalvia
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Bivalvia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 42 million years on record.

The record covers at least 469.4 Mya to 426.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 422.7 Mya.

Ordovician — about 54 of 56 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 2 of 56 occurrencesSilurian472–471 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences471–469 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences469–467 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences467–466 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences466–464 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences464–462 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences462–460 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 3 occurrences457–455 Mya — about 8 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 8 occurrences454–452 Mya — about 9 occurrences452–450 Mya — about 10 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 8 occurrences449–447 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences447–445 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences445–444 Mya — about 2 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences432–430 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences430–428 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences428–427 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences427–425 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences425–423 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences423–422 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences469.4 Mya426.7 Mya472 Mya422 Mya

56 occurrences of Similodonta on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

56 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

27 formations

Dunleith — 42.00°N, 90.50°WLexington Limestone — 38.00°N, 84.67°WLexington Limestone — 37.69°N, 84.76°WMaquoketa — 42.50°N, 91.25°WMaquoketa — 46.00°N, 94.00°WDecorah Shale — 44.50°N, 93.00°WDecorah Shale — 46.00°N, 94.00°WProsser Limestone — 42.50°N, 91.00°WProsser Limestone — 46.00°N, 94.00°WIon — 42.00°N, 90.50°WScales Shale — 42.00°N, 90.50°WNicolet River — 46.00°N, 72.00°WDongchong — 23.11°N, 111.67°EOnny Shale — 52.60°N, 2.55°WLeintwardine — 52.37°N, 2.73°WLangoyen — 59.88°N, 10.59°EGangouchun — 18.40°N, 109.25°EBaota — 33.00°N, 108.00°EScales — 42.48°N, 90.87°WMulde — 57.53°N, 18.43°EBardahessiagh — 54.60°N, 6.93°WArina — 59.00°N, 26.50°EGalena Dolomite — 42.50°N, 92.50°WCummingsville — 46.00°N, 94.00°WGuttenberg — 42.00°N, 90.50°WNavas de Estena — 39.00°N, 4.00°WPlatteville — 43.30°N, 91.78°WActon Scott — 52.00°N, 2.00°W

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The named rock units Similodonta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Similodonta and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Similodonta and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

609 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 55 sites for Similodonta, 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

22 references

Each of the 56 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. 10 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 Similodonta

Credit
Fossiladder13
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itSimilodontidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Soot-Ryen 1964