Titanosarcolites

Titanosarcolites is a genus of giant rudist bivalve from the Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in Jamaica, Southeastern Mexico and the Southern US. It belonged to the now extinct family known as Caprinidae, a group that went extinct during the KT extinction event, 66 MYA. Titanosarcolites was one of the last members of this group. There were several species, including T. alatus, T. giganteus, T. macgillavryi, and T. oddsensis.

Titanosarcolites

Jonathan Chen · 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
AntillocaprinidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Hippuritida
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Antillocaprinidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Hippuritida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
marinePBDB, for Antillocaprinidae

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 62 of 62 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 62 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 5 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 6 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 6 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 6 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 6 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 6 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 6 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 6 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 6 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 6 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 1 occurrence84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

62 occurrences of Titanosarcolites on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

62 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

12 formations

Guinea Corn — 18.15°N, 77.40°WGuinea Corn — 18.16°N, 77.38°WAngostura — 16.73°N, 93.10°WAngostura — 16.75°N, 93.37°WCorsicana Marl — 32.17°N, 96.33°WCorsicana Marl — 31.40°N, 96.74°WNacatoch Sand — 32.10°N, 96.47°WNacatoch Sand — 32.59°N, 96.31°WOcozocoautla — 16.75°N, 93.33°WPrairie Bluff — 32.43°N, 88.04°WRipley — 34.49°N, 89.01°WHabana — 22.00°N, 79.50°WRio Grande — 18.07°N, 76.43°WBack Rio Grande — 18.11°N, 76.48°WRio Grande Limestone — 18.05°N, 76.58°WPierre Shale — 44.78°N, 103.90°W

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The named rock units Titanosarcolites has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Titanosarcolites and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Titanosarcolites and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

296 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Titanosarcolites, 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

18 references

Each of the 62 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. 6 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 Titanosarcolites

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Titanosarcolites 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 itAntillocaprinidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Trechmann 1924