Dentalium neohexagonum

Dentalium neohexagonum is a species of tusk shell, a marine scaphopod mollusk in the family Dentaliidae. As the Latin name implies, the cross section of this shell is hexagonal; hence its common name is six-sided tusk shell.

Dentalium neohexagonum

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
six-sided toothPBDB
Sits inside
DentaliumPBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB, for Dentaliida
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Dentaliida
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Dentaliida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Scaphopoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 85 occurrencesPliocene — about 20 of 85 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 65 of 85 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 85 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.7 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 45 occurrences3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

85 occurrences of Dentalium neohexagonum 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

85 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

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.16°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.73°N, 118.29°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.56°WPico — 34.33°N, 118.72°WPico — 34.43°N, 118.70°WPico — 34.34°N, 118.51°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.55°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WSan Pedro — 33.93°N, 117.95°WPalos Verdes — 33.63°N, 117.90°WAnchor — 34.04°N, 118.40°WTowsley — 34.36°N, 118.51°WLomita Marl — 33.75°N, 118.30°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.84°N, 120.41°WBay Point — 32.78°N, 117.24°WNiguel — 33.64°N, 117.89°W

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The named rock units Dentalium neohexagonum has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 32 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dentalium neohexagonum and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Dentalium neohexagonum and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,210 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 75 sites for Dentalium neohexagonum, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

31 references

Each of the 85 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. 19 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 Dentalium neohexagonum

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itDentalium through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sharp and Pilsbry 1897