Spisula subtruncata

Spisula subtruncata, the Cut Trough Shell, is a medium-sized marine clam, or bivalve mollusc, found in the Eastern Atlantic from Iceland to Morocco and into the Mediterranean Sea. Common and sometimes very numerous. Up to 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long, with a distinct triangular shape. This species of clam is found in sandy and silty bottom in the sublittoral zone, where it lives as a sediment-burrowing filter feeder.

Spisula subtruncata

Hans Hillewaert · 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
Sits inside
SpisulaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Spisula
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Spisula
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Spisula
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 53 occurrencesMiocene — about 21 of 53 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 53 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 28 of 53 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.7–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.1–2.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 12 occurrences15.98 Mya129 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

53 occurrences of Spisula subtruncata 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

53 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

15 formations

Berada — 51.10°N, 5.80°ENorwich Crag — 52.58°N, 1.38°EVistula — 53.94°N, 19.33°EWeybourne Crag — 52.90°N, 1.37°EGniew — 53.85°N, 19.17°EMamara — 39.39°N, 26.84°EBerchem — 51.29°N, 4.27°EBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.43°EBreda — 51.95°N, 6.75°EMontello conglomerate — 46.22°N, 12.80°EPinczow — 50.53°N, 20.53°EMammaliferous Crag — 52.58°N, 1.38°WRed Crag — 52.75°N, 1.53°EGram — 55.28°N, 9.00°EWexford Gravels — 52.43°N, 6.33°WRhodes — 36.42°N, 28.20°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Spisula subtruncata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Spisula subtruncata and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Spisula subtruncata and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

834 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 36 sites for Spisula subtruncata, 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

20 references

Each of the 53 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. 8 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 Spisula subtruncata

Credit
Hans Hillewaert
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Spisula subtruncata 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 itSpisula through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (da Costa 1778)