Unio

Unio is a genus of medium-sized freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. They are found throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, with some species introduced to East Asia. Fossil species are also known from the Jurassic of North America.

Unio

No machine-readable author provided. Emma78 assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 2.5 · 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
UnioninaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Bivalvia
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Bivalvia
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Bivalvia
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Unionida

Time the record covers

At least 241 million years on record.

The record covers at least 241.464 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 247 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Triassic — about 0 of 189 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 3 of 189 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 14 of 189 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 189 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 10 of 189 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 13 of 189 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 19 of 189 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 41 of 189 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 189 occurrencesEocene — about 33 of 189 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 7 of 189 occurrencesMiocene — about 22 of 189 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 189 occurrencesPleistocene — about 20 of 189 occurrences252–244 Mya — about 2 occurrences244–235 Mya — about 2 occurrences235–227 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences227–218 Mya — about 4 occurrences218–210 Mya — about 4 occurrences210–202 Mya — about 5 occurrences202–193 Mya — about 1 occurrence193–185 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences185–176 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences176–168 Mya — about 4 occurrences168–160 Mya — about 6 occurrences160–151 Mya — about 5 occurrences151–143 Mya — about 8 occurrences143–134 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences134–126 Mya — about 2 occurrences126–118 Mya — about 12 occurrences118–109 Mya — about 3 occurrences109–101 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences101–92 Mya — about 18 occurrences84–76 Mya — about 10 occurrences76–67 Mya — about 11 occurrences67–59 Mya — about 3 occurrences59–50 Mya — about 6 occurrences50–42 Mya — about 5 occurrences42–34 Mya — about 22 occurrences34–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–17 Mya — about 7 occurrences17–8.4 Mya — about 15 occurrences8.4–0 Mya — about 27 occurrences241.464 Mya11.7 ka252 Mya0 Mya

189 occurrences of Unio on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

189 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

76 formations

Woodbine — 32.93°N, 97.08°WWoodbine — 33.40°N, 96.96°WWoodbine — 33.63°N, 97.13°WWoodbine — 33.76°N, 96.54°WWoodbine — 33.64°N, 96.61°WWoodbine — 33.69°N, 96.39°WHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WLealt Shale — 56.92°N, 6.15°WLameta — 22.92°N, 79.32°ELameta — 20.75°N, 79.48°ELameta — 20.85°N, 79.25°ELameta — 23.77°N, 78.72°ELameta — 20.71°N, 79.29°ELameta — 20.35°N, 79.05°EMorrison — 41.89°N, 106.00°WMorrison — 38.81°N, 108.32°WMorrison — 44.06°N, 106.72°WMorrison — 44.05°N, 107.46°WHempstead — 50.72°N, 1.45°WKuwajima — 36.17°N, 136.63°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EFort Crittenden — 31.69°N, 110.81°WLower Headon Beds — 50.69°N, 1.53°WChinle — 35.84°N, 111.25°WChinle — 35.88°N, 111.28°WChinle — 35.65°N, 111.12°WSanta Rosa — 35.47°N, 105.85°WSanta Rosa — 35.46°N, 105.87°WIron Sands — 51.75°N, 1.18°WItsuki — 35.94°N, 136.62°EItsuki — 35.90°N, 136.79°EVectis — 50.62°N, 1.38°WYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°ETwo Medicine — 47.77°N, 112.29°WTwo Medicine — 47.63°N, 112.58°WOsborne Beds — 50.71°N, 1.10°WSaltwick — 54.49°N, 0.59°WGarita Creek — 35.28°N, 104.40°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.15°N, 9.88°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EKarakizaki — 32.33°N, 130.30°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.11°N, 14.85°EWillwood — 44.01°N, 108.52°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Unio has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 52 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 47 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Unio and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

1,799 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 163 sites for Unio, 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

109 references

Each of the 189 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. 97 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 content3

Picture of Unio

Credit
No machine-readable author provided. Emma78 assumed (based on copyright claims).
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Unio crassus

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Purgatorius unio · uwbm:vp:115434

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 itUnioninae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Philipsson 1788