Scaphopoda

Scaphopoda is a class of shelled marine molluscs, whose members are known as scaphopods and commonly called tusk shells or tooth shells. They have a worldwide distribution and are the only class of exclusively infaunal marine molluscs. Shells of species within this class range in length 0.5–18 cm (0.20–7.09 in), with Fissidentalium metivieri being the longest. Members of the order Dentaliida tend to be larger than those of the order Gadilida.

Scaphopoda

[Image: Glover, Dahlgren & Wiklund, 2017] Wiklund H, Taylor JD, Dahlgren TG, Todt C, Ikebe C, Rabone M, Glover AG (20… · CC BY 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
tusk shellPBDB
Sits inside
MolluscaPBDB
Diet
deposit feederPBDB
Life habit
shallow infaunalPBDB
Motility
slow-movingPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 422 million years on record.

The record covers at least 422.7 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 426.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Silurian — about 1 of 3856 occurrencesDevonian — about 7 of 3856 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 133 of 3856 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 218 of 3856 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 7 of 3856 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 42 of 3856 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 79 of 3856 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 127 of 3856 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 110 of 3856 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 20 of 3856 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 58 of 3856 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 432 of 3856 occurrencesPaleocene — about 245 of 3856 occurrencesEocene — about 751 of 3856 occurrencesOligocene — about 298 of 3856 occurrencesMiocene — about 759 of 3856 occurrencesPliocene — about 329 of 3856 occurrencesPleistocene — about 231 of 3856 occurrences435–421 Mya — about 1 occurrence421–406 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences406–392 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences392–377 Mya — about 6 occurrences363–348 Mya — about 7 occurrences348–334 Mya — about 6 occurrences334–319 Mya — about 11 occurrences319–305 Mya — about 50 occurrences305–290 Mya — about 62 occurrences290–276 Mya — about 65 occurrences276–261 Mya — about 52 occurrences261–247 Mya — about 106 occurrences247–232 Mya — about 100 occurrences232–218 Mya — about 15 occurrences218–203 Mya — about 5 occurrences203–189 Mya — about 62 occurrences189–174 Mya — about 65 occurrences174–160 Mya — about 110 occurrences160–145 Mya — about 14 occurrences145–131 Mya — about 19 occurrences131–116 Mya — about 11 occurrences116–102 Mya — about 31 occurrences102–87 Mya — about 62 occurrences87–73 Mya — about 123 occurrences73–58 Mya — about 454 occurrences58–44 Mya — about 313 occurrences44–29 Mya — about 618 occurrences29–15 Mya — about 476 occurrences15–0 Mya — about 1010 occurrences422.7 Mya11.7 ka435 Mya0 Mya

3,856 occurrences of Scaphopoda 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

3,856 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

581 formations

Gatun — 9.35°N, 79.81°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.82°WGatun — 9.28°N, 79.97°WGatun — 9.30°N, 79.92°WGatun — 9.17°N, 80.00°WCook Mountain — 31.29°N, 86.56°WCook Mountain — 31.31°N, 86.48°WCook Mountain — 30.53°N, 96.69°WCook Mountain — 31.25°N, 95.73°WCook Mountain — 31.75°N, 92.97°WCook Mountain — 32.32°N, 89.03°WCook Mountain — 32.17°N, 88.83°WCook Mountain — 32.32°N, 89.16°WCook Mountain — 32.04°N, 88.73°WCook Mountain — 32.35°N, 92.72°WCook Mountain — 32.10°N, 88.86°WCook Mountain — 30.62°N, 96.53°WCook Mountain — 32.51°N, 92.12°WCook Mountain — 30.90°N, 96.39°WCook Mountain — 29.71°N, 96.54°WCook Mountain — 31.03°N, 95.63°WCook Mountain — 31.12°N, 95.90°WCook Mountain — 30.63°N, 96.55°WCook Mountain — 31.20°N, 95.73°WCook Mountain — 29.95°N, 97.14°WCook Mountain — 31.36°N, 95.42°WCook Mountain — 30.07°N, 97.08°WMoodys Branch — 32.85°N, 90.41°WMoodys Branch — 32.95°N, 90.17°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.01°N, 92.00°WMoodys Branch — 32.33°N, 90.15°WMoodys Branch — 31.88°N, 88.69°WMoodys Branch — 31.50°N, 87.80°WMoodys Branch — 31.31°N, 86.48°WMoodys Branch — 31.03°N, 85.85°WMoodys Branch — 31.14°N, 87.94°WMoodys Branch — 31.53°N, 88.05°WMoodys Branch — 31.26°N, 93.82°WMoodys Branch — 31.67°N, 92.89°WMoodys Branch — 33.96°N, 92.19°WMoodys Branch — 32.17°N, 88.83°WMoodys Branch — 32.98°N, 90.30°WMoodys Branch — 31.92°N, 91.92°WCorsicana Marl — 32.53°N, 96.27°WCorsicana Marl — 32.25°N, 96.29°WCorsicana Marl — 32.06°N, 96.47°WCorsicana Marl — 31.82°N, 96.54°WCorsicana Marl — 31.75°N, 96.58°WCorsicana Marl — 31.74°N, 96.61°WCorsicana Marl — 31.52°N, 96.58°WCorsicana Marl — 31.40°N, 96.73°WCorsicana Marl — 31.12°N, 96.82°WCorsicana Marl — 30.94°N, 96.95°WCorsicana Marl — 30.81°N, 97.10°WCorsicana Marl — 30.37°N, 97.46°WCorsicana Marl — 30.37°N, 97.45°WCorsicana Marl — 30.30°N, 97.46°WCorsicana Marl — 30.23°N, 97.52°WCorsicana Marl — 30.20°N, 97.62°WCorsicana Marl — 29.83°N, 97.84°WCorsicana Marl — 29.63°N, 98.04°WCorsicana Marl — 29.49°N, 98.19°WCorsicana Marl — 31.30°N, 96.90°WProvidence — 31.91°N, 86.17°WProvidence — 31.97°N, 86.00°WProvidence — 31.92°N, 85.82°WProvidence — 31.95°N, 85.68°WProvidence — 31.92°N, 85.35°WProvidence — 31.94°N, 86.11°WProvidence — 31.84°N, 85.22°WProvidence — 31.76°N, 85.13°WProvidence — 31.73°N, 85.12°WProvidence — 31.82°N, 84.97°WProvidence — 31.96°N, 85.45°WProvidence — 31.89°N, 85.21°WProvidence — 31.87°N, 85.72°WCassian — 46.68°N, 12.15°ECassian — 46.53°N, 11.92°ECassian — 46.52°N, 11.96°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.55°N, 12.15°ECassian — 46.54°N, 12.25°ECassian — 46.47°N, 12.07°ECassian — 46.52°N, 11.65°ECassian — 46.57°N, 11.94°ECassian — 46.59°N, 12.26°EHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.58°N, 86.74°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 32.08°N, 88.22°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.92°N, 87.97°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.82°N, 87.37°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.07°N, 88.03°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 32.37°N, 88.68°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.93°N, 88.05°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.35°N, 86.08°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 32.25°N, 88.43°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.32°N, 86.00°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.45°N, 85.63°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.97°N, 87.86°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.93°N, 87.75°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.53°N, 87.32°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 31.65°N, 88.08°WHatchetigbee Bluff — 32.14°N, 87.47°WKincaid — 31.28°N, 96.98°WKincaid — 30.80°N, 96.95°WKincaid — 31.17°N, 96.83°WKincaid — 30.08°N, 97.50°WKincaid — 31.67°N, 96.47°WKincaid — 30.10°N, 97.30°WKincaid — 30.23°N, 97.52°WKincaid — 31.05°N, 96.83°WKincaid — 30.33°N, 97.37°WKincaid — 29.36°N, 98.88°WKincaid — 29.35°N, 99.14°WKincaid — 30.14°N, 97.37°WKincaid — 31.29°N, 96.72°WByram — 32.18°N, 90.25°WByram — 32.01°N, 89.38°WByram — 32.32°N, 90.86°WByram — 32.48°N, 90.80°WByram — 32.41°N, 90.84°WGraham — 33.18°N, 98.12°WGraham — 33.12°N, 98.51°WGraham — 33.15°N, 98.16°WGraham — 33.17°N, 98.16°WChhidru — 32.55°N, 71.78°EChhidru — 32.32°N, 71.18°EChhidru — 32.96°N, 71.20°EChhidru — 32.48°N, 72.20°EChhidru — 32.40°N, 72.15°EChhidru — 32.50°N, 72.00°EChhidru — 32.52°N, 72.11°EChhidru — 32.24°N, 71.15°EChhidru — 32.41°N, 72.10°EChhidru — 32.47°N, 71.95°EChhidru — 32.72°N, 71.75°EKalchreuth — 49.55°N, 11.13°EBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WLoray — 39.01°N, 114.88°WLoray — 39.20°N, 114.98°WLoray — 39.65°N, 115.32°WLoray — 39.48°N, 115.12°WLisbon — 31.53°N, 87.60°WLisbon — 31.84°N, 88.25°WLisbon — 31.50°N, 87.80°WLisbon — 31.76°N, 88.10°WLisbon — 32.32°N, 89.16°WLisbon — 31.60°N, 87.55°WLisbon — 31.82°N, 88.24°WLisbon — 31.55°N, 87.52°WLisbon — 31.55°N, 87.91°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.80°N, 118.16°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.73°N, 118.29°WReklaw — 30.88°N, 95.38°WReklaw — 30.11°N, 97.32°WReklaw — 30.01°N, 97.26°WReklaw — 30.80°N, 96.72°WReklaw — 30.00°N, 97.25°WChari — 23.50°N, 70.50°ELlajas — 34.31°N, 118.69°WLlajas — 34.32°N, 118.63°WTejon — 34.94°N, 118.82°WTejon — 34.96°N, 118.87°WTejon — 34.91°N, 118.99°WTejon — 34.93°N, 119.23°WTejon — 34.89°N, 119.14°WTejon — 35.00°N, 119.00°WTejon — 34.93°N, 118.87°WRed Bluff — 30.98°N, 88.73°WRed Bluff — 31.81°N, 88.69°WRed Bluff — 31.66°N, 88.66°WChipola — 30.57°N, 85.84°WChipola — 30.44°N, 85.19°WChipola — 30.43°N, 84.98°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.56°WPico — 34.33°N, 118.72°WPico — 34.43°N, 118.70°WPico — 34.34°N, 118.51°WPico — 34.36°N, 118.55°WPorters Creek — 31.90°N, 86.88°WPorters Creek — 32.12°N, 87.26°WPorters Creek — 31.99°N, 87.29°WPorters Creek — 31.93°N, 87.02°WPorters Creek — 31.98°N, 87.13°WPorters Creek — 32.03°N, 87.42°WPorters Creek — 31.97°N, 87.20°WPorters Creek — 32.23°N, 88.00°WPorters Creek — 32.37°N, 88.03°WPorters Creek — 31.94°N, 87.05°WPorters Creek — 34.73°N, 88.95°W

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The named rock units Scaphopoda has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 557 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 687 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scaphopoda and its relatives

Miocene

Where Scaphopoda and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,164 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 1,410 sites for Scaphopoda, 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

663 references

Each of the 3,856 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. 651 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 Scaphopoda

Credit
[Image: Glover, Dahlgren & Wiklund, 2017] Wiklund H, Taylor JD, Dahlgren TG, Todt C, Ikebe C, Rabone M, Glover AG (20…
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Scaphopoda was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access 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 itMollusca through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bronn 1862