Modiolus capax

Modiolus capax, common name fat horsemussel, is a species of "horse mussel", a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae, the mussels. It was first described to science by American malacologist Timothy Abbott Conrad in 1837. The type specimen was collected in San Diego by Thomas Nuttall.

Modiolus capax

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 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
fat horsemusselPBDB
Sits inside
ModiolusPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Modiolus
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Modiolus
Motility
stationary, attached, epibiontPBDB, for Modiolus
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
lagoonal,coastal,inner shelf,outer shelf,oceanic,brackish,freshwaterPBDB, for Mytilidae

Time the record covers

At least 5.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 6 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 41 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 27 of 41 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 41 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences5.333 Mya129 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

41 occurrences of Modiolus capax 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

41 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

Careaga Sandstone — 34.88°N, 120.51°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.74°N, 120.41°WCareaga Sandstone — 34.90°N, 120.32°WSisquoc — 34.81°N, 120.22°WMulege — 27.05°N, 111.97°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WFoxen Mudstone — 34.89°N, 120.55°WPancho Rico — 36.05°N, 121.18°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WPalos Verdes — 33.63°N, 117.90°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Modiolus capax has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Modiolus capax and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Modiolus capax and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

984 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Modiolus capax, 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

15 references

Each of the 41 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. 3 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 Modiolus capax

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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 itModiolus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Conrad 1837)