Spondylus

Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae and subfamily Spondylinae. They are known in English as spiny oysters or thorny oysters.

Spondylus

Didier Descouens · 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
SpondylidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Spondylidae
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pectinida

Time the record covers

At least 246 million years on record.

The record covers at least 247 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 250.8 Mya to 0 Mya.

Permian — about 0 of 931 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 2 of 931 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 0 of 931 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 4 of 931 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 931 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 7 of 931 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 9 of 931 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 30 of 931 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 234 of 931 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 10 of 931 occurrencesEocene — about 177 of 931 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 47 of 931 occurrencesMiocene — about 211 of 931 occurrencesPliocene — about 78 of 931 occurrencesPleistocene — about 116 of 931 occurrences256–247 Mya — about 2 occurrences247–239 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences239–230 Mya — about 1 occurrence230–222 Mya — about 1 occurrence222–213 Mya — about 1 occurrence213–205 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences205–196 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences196–188 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences188–179 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences179–171 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences171–162 Mya — about 6 occurrences162–153 Mya — about 4 occurrences153–145 Mya — about 6 occurrences145–136 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences136–128 Mya — about 4 occurrences128–119 Mya — about 6 occurrences119–111 Mya — about 13 occurrences111–102 Mya — about 4 occurrences102–94 Mya — about 8 occurrences94–85 Mya — about 22 occurrences85–77 Mya — about 38 occurrences77–68 Mya — about 112 occurrences68–60 Mya — about 64 occurrences60–51 Mya — about 37 occurrences51–43 Mya — about 39 occurrences43–34 Mya — about 99 occurrences34–26 Mya — about 41 occurrences26–17 Mya — about 70 occurrences17–8.5 Mya — about 85 occurrences8.5–0 Mya — about 264 occurrences247 Mya11.7 ka256 Mya0 Mya

931 occurrences of Spondylus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

931 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

246 formations

Gurabo — 19.48°N, 71.09°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.20°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.30°WGurabo — 18.93°N, 71.62°WGurabo — 19.30°N, 71.67°WGurabo — 19.45°N, 70.95°WPrairie Bluff — 33.46°N, 88.79°WPrairie Bluff — 33.15°N, 88.67°WPrairie Bluff — 33.07°N, 88.61°WPrairie Bluff — 32.73°N, 88.30°WPrairie Bluff — 32.61°N, 88.24°WPrairie Bluff — 32.43°N, 88.04°WPrairie Bluff — 32.39°N, 87.92°WPrairie Bluff — 32.23°N, 87.50°WPrairie Bluff — 32.14°N, 87.42°WPrairie Bluff — 32.07°N, 87.33°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.81°WPrairie Bluff — 32.05°N, 86.81°WPrairie Bluff — 31.97°N, 86.72°WPrairie Bluff — 32.00°N, 86.48°WPrairie Bluff — 31.97°N, 86.00°WVaqueros — 34.04°N, 120.04°WVaqueros — 33.96°N, 120.07°WVaqueros — 34.35°N, 118.83°WVaqueros — 34.04°N, 118.88°WVaqueros — 34.37°N, 118.82°WVaqueros — 34.57°N, 119.02°WVaqueros — 34.37°N, 119.33°WVaqueros — 34.58°N, 120.16°WVaqueros — 35.78°N, 120.99°WVaqueros — 36.18°N, 121.31°Wopoka — 51.32°N, 21.95°Eopoka — 51.15°N, 21.72°Eopoka — 51.00°N, 21.00°Eopoka — 51.10°N, 21.80°Eopoka — 51.25°N, 22.57°ECulebra — 9.08°N, 79.68°WCulebra — 9.76°N, 79.68°WCulebra — 9.03°N, 79.63°WCulebra — 9.13°N, 79.62°WRed Bluff — 30.98°N, 88.73°WRed Bluff — 31.81°N, 88.69°WRed Bluff — 31.66°N, 88.66°WRed Bluff — 31.57°N, 88.04°WRed Bluff — 31.84°N, 88.25°WRed Bluff — 31.54°N, 88.06°WOlazagutia — 42.88°N, 2.20°WCastle Hayne — 34.37°N, 77.86°WCastle Hayne — 34.23°N, 77.94°WCastle Hayne — 34.66°N, 77.70°WCastle Hayne — 34.36°N, 77.82°WSeroe Domi — 12.14°N, 68.99°WSeroe Domi — 12.11°N, 68.93°WSeroe Domi — 12.15°N, 68.99°WSeroe Domi — 12.27°N, 69.13°WTejon — 34.94°N, 118.82°WTejon — 34.92°N, 119.30°WTejon — 34.93°N, 118.93°WSantee Limestone — 33.51°N, 80.49°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.38°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 79.69°WSantee Limestone — 33.35°N, 80.25°WCrescent — 47.31°N, 123.53°WCrescent — 47.08°N, 123.83°WCrescent — 47.31°N, 123.55°WTe Whanga Limestone — 43.82°S, 176.50°WTe Whanga Limestone — 44.28°S, 176.77°ESan Andres — 12.53°N, 81.70°WRoca — 37.56°S, 69.85°WRoca — 37.54°S, 69.87°WRoca — 36.20°S, 69.50°WRoca — 36.83°S, 69.26°WRoca — 35.83°S, 69.67°WRoca — 35.43°S, 69.73°WBoat Cove — 29.28°S, 177.85°WBoat Cove — 29.23°S, 177.88°WBoat Cove — 29.22°S, 177.83°WKahuitara Tuff — 44.33°S, 176.00°WKahuitara Tuff — 44.33°S, 176.25°EBateque — 26.75°N, 113.00°WBateque — 26.50°N, 112.73°WCaloosahatchee — 25.95°N, 81.36°WCaloosahatchee — 25.75°N, 81.94°WCaloosahatchee — 26.89°N, 82.01°WCaloosahatchee — 26.76°N, 81.44°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WRincon — 34.04°N, 120.04°WRincon — 34.74°N, 120.31°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WDry Creek Sands — 34.75°S, 138.68°EDry Creek Sands — 34.85°S, 138.60°EDry Creek Sands — 34.88°S, 138.49°EDry Creek Sands — 34.89°S, 138.56°ERio Gurabo — 19.50°N, 71.18°WMaastricht — 51.00°N, 6.00°E

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The named rock units Spondylus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 222 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 355 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Spondylus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Spondylus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3,322 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 601 sites for Spondylus, 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

317 references

Each of the 931 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. 305 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 content4

Picture of Spondylus

Credit
Didier Descouens
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Spondylus regius

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Spondylus tenuis · FMNH:Invertebrate Zoology:177525

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itSpondylidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

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