Sphaerium

Sphaerium is a genus of very small freshwater clams, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the family Sphaeriidae, known as the fingernail clams. The small clams in this genus are unusual in that many of them, such as Sphaerium corneum, can climb around underwater on aquatic plants, using their long and strong foot.

Sphaerium

Donald Anderson · 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
fingernail clamPBDB
Sits inside
PisidiinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Bivalvia
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Bivalvia
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Bivalvia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Sphaeriidae

Time the record covers

At least 142 million years on record.

The record covers at least 143.1 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 161.5 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Middle Jurassic — about 0 of 60 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1 of 60 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 8 of 60 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 12 of 60 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 5 of 60 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 60 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 60 occurrencesMiocene — about 5 of 60 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 60 occurrencesPleistocene — about 19 of 60 occurrences165–159 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences159–154 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences154–148 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences148–143 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences143–137 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences137–132 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences132–126 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences126–121 Mya — about 2 occurrences121–115 Mya — about 2 occurrences115–110 Mya — about 1 occurrence110–104 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences104–99 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences88–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–77 Mya — about 1 occurrence77–71 Mya — about 2 occurrences71–66 Mya — about 8 occurrences66–60 Mya — about 3 occurrences60–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–49 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences49–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–38 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–5.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.5–0 Mya — about 27 occurrences143.1 Mya129 ka165 Mya0 Mya

60 occurrences of Sphaerium 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

60 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

26 formations

Ravenscrag — 49.70°N, 109.00°WRavenscrag — 49.13°N, 104.88°WRavenscrag — 49.70°N, 110.50°WHell Creek — 45.53°N, 101.63°WHell Creek — 46.90°N, 101.50°WHell Creek — 46.24°N, 107.38°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 106.95°WShahai — 41.81°N, 121.99°ESiesta — 37.88°N, 122.22°WSiesta — 37.87°N, 122.12°WKuwajima — 36.17°N, 136.63°EWyandotte — 18.77°S, 144.85°EScollard — 52.33°N, 113.12°WLishugou — 41.30°N, 125.50°EFuxin — 42.37°N, 122.52°ETwo Medicine — 48.63°N, 113.75°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.47°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WSappa — 39.80°N, 98.10°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WElko — 40.82°N, 115.70°WMortemer — 49.89°N, 0.83°ECareaga Sandstone — 34.74°N, 120.41°WGarrity — 37.86°N, 122.12°WMulholland — 37.88°N, 122.18°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EOber Süßwassermolasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Sphaerium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphaerium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Sphaerium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

991 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 52 sites for Sphaerium, 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

41 references

Each of the 60 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. 29 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 content2

Picture of Sphaerium

Credit
Donald Anderson
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itPisidiinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Scopoli 1777