Pteria colymbus

Pteria colymbus, the Atlantic winged oyster, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Pteriidae. It can be found along the Atlantic coast of North America, ranging from North Carolina to Bermuda and Brazil.

Pteria colymbus

Veronidae · 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
PteriaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Pteria
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Pteria
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Pteria
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
coastal,inner shelf,outer shelf,oceanicPBDB, for Pteriidae

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 12 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 12 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 12 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 12 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

12 occurrences of Pteria colymbus 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

12 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

Caloosahatchee — 26.89°N, 82.01°WCaloosahatchee — 26.96°N, 81.99°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WFort Thompson — 27.72°N, 82.43°WFort Thompson — 26.76°N, 81.44°WPamlico — 32.78°N, 79.93°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WBermont — 26.68°N, 80.67°WGoose Creek — 33.33°N, 80.15°WYorktown — 37.23°N, 76.51°W

Loading coastlines…

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

Pteria colymbus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Pteria colymbus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

761 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Pteria colymbus, 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

9 references

Each of the 12 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. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Pteria colymbus

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

No 3D scan of Pteria colymbus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itPteria through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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