Panopea abrupta

Panopea abrupta is an extinct species of large marine bivalve mollusc in the family Hiatellidae, originally described as Mya abrupta. Its fossils were found in Miocene-aged marine strata near Astoria, Oregon. Between 1983 and 2010, this species of clam was confused with the Pacific geoduck, Panopea generosa, in the scientific literature.

Panopea abrupta

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
Pacific geoduckPBDB
Sits inside
PanopeaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Panopea
Life habit
deep infaunalPBDB, for Panopea
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Panopea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 129 ka.

Eocene — about 1 of 47 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 47 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 21 of 47 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 47 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 47 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.0–7.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.7–6.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.4–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–2.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences33.9 Mya774 ka38.5 Mya0 Mya

47 occurrences of Panopea abrupta on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

47 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

14 formations

Pico — 34.36°N, 118.56°WPico — 34.35°N, 118.52°WPico — 34.34°N, 118.53°WClallam — 48.23°N, 124.14°WClallam — 48.27°N, 122.25°WClallam — 48.20°N, 122.11°WClallam — 48.26°N, 124.25°WAstoria — 44.73°N, 124.06°WAstoria — 43.40°N, 124.28°WPancho Rico — 36.05°N, 121.18°WPancho Rico — 36.13°N, 121.02°WPancho Rico — 36.03°N, 120.86°WPancho Rico — 35.83°N, 120.50°WPancho Rico — 36.13°N, 120.73°WTemblor — 35.95°N, 120.25°WTemblor — 36.34°N, 120.36°WPleito — 34.99°N, 119.19°WSan Pedro — 33.93°N, 117.95°WTwin Rivers — 48.22°N, 124.15°WEugene — 44.05°N, 123.09°WAusinskaya — 47.05°N, 142.06°EMonterey — 33.59°N, 117.71°WWilson Grove — 38.34°N, 122.84°WTwin River — 48.17°N, 123.99°WBlakeley — 47.95°N, 122.07°W

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The named rock units Panopea abrupta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Panopea abrupta and its relatives

Miocene

Where Panopea abrupta and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

403 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Panopea abrupta, 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

14 references

Each of the 47 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. 2 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 Panopea abrupta

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 itPanopea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Conrad 1849)