Chione undatella

Chione undatella is a species of edible marine bivalve from the genus Chione. The species was a major food source for the indigenous people of California, and as of 2026 is occasionally still harvested locally.

Chione undatella

Don Loarie · 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
Also called
wavy chionePBDB
Sits inside
ChionePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Chione
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Chione
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Chione
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 34 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 34 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 34 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 27 of 34 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.7–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 22 occurrences11.63 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

34 occurrences of Chione undatella 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

34 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

8 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.71°N, 118.27°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.17°WSan Marcos — 26.00°N, 111.14°WYsidro — 24.58°N, 112.00°WSan Pedro — 33.85°N, 118.06°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.71°N, 118.27°WTimms Point Silt — 33.71°N, 118.27°WSan Diego — 32.54°N, 117.11°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chione undatella has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chione undatella and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Chione undatella and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,041 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Chione undatella, 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 34 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 Chione undatella

Credit
Don Loarie
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Chione undatella 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 itChione through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Sowerby I 1835)