Vesicomyidae

Vesicomyidae is a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the superfamily Glossoidea. They thrive in communities of sulphide-rich reducing environments, at depths from 100 to 9050 m.

Vesicomyidae

[Image: Glover, Taylor, Dahlgren & Wiklund, 2017] Wiklund H, Taylor JD, Dahlgren TG, Todt C, Ikebe C, Rabone M, Glove… · CC BY 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
GlossoideaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Glossoidea
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Glossoidea
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Glossoidea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 72 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 107 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 107 occurrencesEocene — about 23 of 107 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 40 of 107 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 25 of 107 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 107 occurrencesPleistocene — about 7 of 107 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 4 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 11 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 11 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 11 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 10 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 8 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 4 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences72.2 Mya129 ka85 Mya0 Mya

107 occurrences of Vesicomyidae on record, most of them in the Oligocene. 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

107 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

42 formations

Lincoln Creek — 46.28°N, 123.81°WLincoln Creek — 46.60°N, 123.60°WLincoln Creek — 47.28°N, 123.52°WLincoln Creek — 47.27°N, 123.56°WMakah — 48.35°N, 124.55°WMakah — 48.32°N, 124.45°WMakah — 48.13°N, 123.76°WMakah — 48.32°N, 124.50°WMakah — 48.16°N, 123.78°WHumptulips — 47.25°N, 123.82°WHumptulips — 47.32°N, 123.57°WHumptulips — 47.25°N, 123.84°WKulthieth — 60.18°N, 144.38°WChikubetsu — 44.51°N, 141.80°ECone Hill — 4.74°S, 81.21°WPoronai — 43.25°N, 141.97°EPoronai — 43.23°N, 141.87°EPoronai — 43.22°N, 142.53°ETamari — 34.77°N, 138.04°ERedwood — 60.18°N, 144.38°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WPysht — 48.15°N, 123.86°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WWagonwheel — 35.70°N, 119.99°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.27°WKurosedani — 36.57°N, 137.14°ESnatol'skaya — 57.78°N, 158.58°EAokiyama — 35.08°N, 139.92°EHeath — 4.10°S, 81.05°WShitakara — 42.98°N, 144.38°ENevel'skaya — 50.82°N, 142.13°EOmagari — 44.66°N, 142.04°EMonterey — 37.11°N, 122.33°WCipero Marl — 10.23°N, 61.53°WAgueguexquite — 18.14°N, 94.44°W

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The named rock units Vesicomyidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 19 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Vesicomyidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Vesicomyidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

1,065 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 64 sites for Vesicomyidae, 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

44 references

Each of the 107 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. 32 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 Vesicomyidae

Credit
[Image: Glover, Taylor, Dahlgren & Wiklund, 2017] Wiklund H, Taylor JD, Dahlgren TG, Todt C, Ikebe C, Rabone M, Glove…
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Vesicomyidae 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 itGlossoidea through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dall 1908