Pholas

Pholas is a taxonomic genus of marine bivalve molluscs in the subfamily Pholadinae of the family Pholadidae.

Pholas

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Sits inside
PholadinaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
boringPBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 119 million years on record.

The record covers at least 119.57 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 2 of 59 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 7 of 59 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 17 of 59 occurrencesEocene — about 3 of 59 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 59 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 8 of 59 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 59 occurrencesPleistocene — about 16 of 59 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences120–116 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences116–111 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences111–107 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences107–103 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences99–95 Mya — about 1 occurrence95–91 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences87–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 1 occurrence78–74 Mya — about 1 occurrence74–70 Mya — about 1 occurrence70–66 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences66–62 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 9 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 9 occurrences54–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–45 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences41–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–33 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences33–29 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences29–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–21 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–8.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.3–4.1 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.1–0 Mya — about 19 occurrences119.57 Mya11.7 ka124 Mya0 Mya

59 occurrences of Pholas on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

59 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

30 formations

Tuscahoma — 31.70°N, 84.85°WTuscahoma — 31.82°N, 87.37°WTuscahoma — 31.54°N, 87.52°WNanafalia — 31.82°N, 86.62°WNanafalia — 31.58°N, 85.77°WWoodbine — 33.68°N, 96.45°WWoodbine — 33.66°N, 96.91°WMorne l'Enfer — 10.23°N, 61.63°WTubará — 10.75°N, 75.00°WBlack Creek — 35.46°N, 77.68°WBlack Creek — 35.67°N, 77.47°WSevern — 38.92°N, 76.85°WMerchantville — 39.55°N, 75.70°WMount Laurel — 40.12°N, 74.55°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WJama — 0.18°S, 80.32°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WHorry Clay — 33.69°N, 78.89°WSan Juan Terrace — 15.33°S, 75.17°WFels — 48.50°N, 15.76°ECoralline Crag — 52.07°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.05°N, 1.32°EHatchetigbee Bluff — 32.37°N, 88.68°WWaccamaw — 33.86°N, 78.55°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.16°WWeybourne Crag — 52.90°N, 1.37°ESabinetown Bluff — 31.40°N, 93.70°WTroy Limestone — 18.32°N, 77.13°WMoneague — 18.47°N, 77.30°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Pholas has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pholas and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Pholas and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

1,233 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Pholas, 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

35 references

Each of the 59 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. 23 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 content3

Picture of Pholas

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Pholas campechinesis · USNM:IZ:USNM 407370

3D model

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

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 itPholadinae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758