Lithophaga

Lithophaga, the date mussels, are a genus of medium-sized marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae. Some of the earliest fossil Lithophaga shells have been found in Mesozoic rocks from the Alps and from Vancouver Island.

Lithophaga

GrahamBould · 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
MytilidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
boringPBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
lagoonal,coastal,inner shelf,outer shelf,oceanic,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Mytilidae

Time the record covers

At least 335 million years on record.

The record covers at least 335.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 0 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 605 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 14 of 605 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 23 of 605 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 605 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 605 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 7 of 605 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 34 of 605 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 63 of 605 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 82 of 605 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 36 of 605 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 76 of 605 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 13 of 605 occurrencesEocene — about 27 of 605 occurrencesOligocene — about 16 of 605 occurrencesMiocene — about 128 of 605 occurrencesPliocene — about 19 of 605 occurrencesPleistocene — about 49 of 605 occurrences366–354 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences354–342 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences342–329 Mya — about 2 occurrences329–317 Mya — about 3 occurrences317–305 Mya — about 5 occurrences305–293 Mya — about 6 occurrences293–281 Mya — about 5 occurrences281–268 Mya — about 8 occurrences268–256 Mya — about 5 occurrences256–244 Mya — about 3 occurrences244–232 Mya — about 2 occurrences232–220 Mya — about 2 occurrences220–207 Mya — about 1 occurrence207–195 Mya — about 3 occurrences195–183 Mya — about 30 occurrences183–171 Mya — about 4 occurrences171–159 Mya — about 70 occurrences159–146 Mya — about 68 occurrences146–134 Mya — about 15 occurrences134–122 Mya — about 11 occurrences122–110 Mya — about 15 occurrences110–98 Mya — about 3 occurrences98–85 Mya — about 5 occurrences85–73 Mya — about 12 occurrences73–61 Mya — about 65 occurrences61–49 Mya — about 9 occurrences49–37 Mya — about 17 occurrences37–24 Mya — about 20 occurrences24–12 Mya — about 79 occurrences12–0 Mya — about 138 occurrences335.9 Mya11.7 ka366 Mya0 Mya

605 occurrences of Lithophaga 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

605 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

185 formations

Prairie Bluff — 33.73°N, 88.90°WPrairie Bluff — 32.61°N, 88.16°WPrairie Bluff — 32.43°N, 88.04°WPrairie Bluff — 32.23°N, 87.50°WPrairie Bluff — 32.14°N, 87.42°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.99°WPrairie Bluff — 32.04°N, 86.78°WPrairie Bluff — 31.95°N, 86.70°WPrairie Bluff — 31.98°N, 86.00°WArcadia — 27.89°N, 82.48°WArcadia — 28.15°N, 82.76°WArcadia — 30.62°N, 84.91°WArcadia — 30.69°N, 84.84°WCalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.83°N, 4.20°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.88°N, 4.09°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.63°N, 4.92°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.88°N, 4.04°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.68°N, 4.61°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.60°N, 4.96°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques superieurs — 49.64°N, 4.73°EProvidence — 31.91°N, 86.17°WProvidence — 31.89°N, 85.70°WProvidence — 31.84°N, 85.22°WProvidence — 31.70°N, 85.12°WProvidence — 31.80°N, 85.00°WProvidence — 31.92°N, 85.35°WCalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.85°N, 4.31°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.88°N, 4.23°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.68°N, 4.61°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.76°N, 4.45°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.86°N, 4.14°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.60°N, 4.96°ECalcaires pseudo-oolithiques inferieurs — 49.72°N, 4.50°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.83°N, 4.20°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.88°N, 4.09°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.88°N, 4.04°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.85°N, 4.16°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.78°N, 4.40°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.65°N, 4.64°ECalcaires marno-crayeux inferieurs — 49.60°N, 4.80°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.83°N, 4.20°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.88°N, 4.09°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.85°N, 4.16°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.78°N, 4.40°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.65°N, 4.64°ECalcaires marno-crayeux superieurs — 49.60°N, 4.80°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.83°N, 4.20°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.88°N, 4.09°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.63°N, 4.92°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.70°N, 4.42°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.60°N, 4.96°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.72°N, 4.50°ECalcaires marneux inferieurs — 49.64°N, 4.73°EOolithe miliaire — 49.84°N, 4.33°EOolithe miliaire — 49.71°N, 4.60°EOolithe miliaire — 49.92°N, 4.08°EOolithe miliaire — 49.78°N, 4.40°EOolithe miliaire — 49.60°N, 4.96°EOolithe miliaire — 49.68°N, 4.66°EChiwapa — 34.36°N, 88.93°WChiwapa — 34.21°N, 88.98°WChiwapa — 34.04°N, 88.93°WCoral Rag de Trouville — 49.32°N, 0.03°ECoral Rag de Trouville — 48.60°N, 0.63°ECoral Rag de Trouville — 49.30°N, 0.07°WArgiles a Lopha gregarea — 49.30°N, 0.07°WUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.95°N, 14.35°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.93°N, 14.33°EUpper Coralline Limestone — 35.92°N, 14.38°ESevern — 38.80°N, 77.00°WSevern — 38.89°N, 76.85°WSevern — 39.33°N, 76.03°WSevern — 38.91°N, 76.85°WRudeis — 27.30°N, 33.58°ERudeis — 27.62°N, 33.37°ERudeis — 25.95°N, 34.30°ERudeis — 24.80°N, 35.02°ERudeis — 24.42°N, 35.20°EHabo beds — 23.20°N, 69.80°ESeroe Domi — 12.27°N, 69.13°WSeroe Domi — 12.17°N, 68.99°WVuache — 46.83°N, 6.52°ECoral Rag — 51.75°N, 1.25°WCoral Rag — 53.98°N, 1.53°WStuttgart — 49.20°N, 9.30°EAmaral — 38.95°N, 9.07°WAmaral — 39.00°N, 9.18°WVaqueros — 33.55°N, 117.82°WVaqueros — 34.93°N, 119.06°WVaqueros — 35.27°N, 120.60°WVaqueros — 35.25°N, 120.06°WRipley — 35.32°N, 88.42°WRipley — 35.29°N, 88.60°WPeedee — 33.89°N, 79.41°WPeedee — 35.77°N, 78.64°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lithophaga has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 161 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 253 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lithophaga and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lithophaga and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

3,580 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 481 sites for Lithophaga, and this reads 240 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

233 references

Each of the 605 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. 221 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 Lithophaga

Credit
GrahamBould
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lithophaga was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was 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 itMytilidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Röding 1798