Dreissena

Dreissena is a genus of small freshwater mussels in the family Dreissenidae in the class Bivalvia. They are found attached to firm substrates by threads from underneath the shells and are the only freshwater bivalves to attach to hard substrates in high densities while having a planktonic larval stage. They are considered the most aggressive freshwater invader in the world because of their ability to invade environments in every one of their life cycle.

Dreissena

Uncredited · Public Domain · 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
DreissenidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Dreissenidae
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Dreissenidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Dreissenidae
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 2 of 25 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 25 occurrencesEocene — about 5 of 25 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 25 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 25 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 25 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 25 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 0.3 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 11 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences72.2 Mya129 ka85 Mya0 Mya

25 occurrences of Dreissena on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

25 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

6 formations

facies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WCorsicana Marl — 31.30°N, 96.90°WBlack Creek — 35.77°N, 78.64°WHempstead — 50.71°N, 1.45°WBoteni — 45.18°N, 25.12°E

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The named rock units Dreissena has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dreissena and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dreissena and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

319 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Dreissena, 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

11 references

Each of the 25 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. 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 content2

Picture of Dreissena

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itDreissenidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Beneden 1835