Teredo

Teredo is a genus of highly modified saltwater clams which bore in wood and live within the tunnels they create. They are commonly known as "shipworms;" however, they are not worms, but marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Teredinidae. The type species is Teredo navalis.

Teredo

United States Geological Survey · Public Domain · 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
TeredinidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
boringPBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 136 million years on record.

The record covers at least 137.05 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 204 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 9 of 204 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 23 of 204 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 38 of 204 occurrencesEocene — about 75 of 204 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 204 occurrencesMiocene — about 35 of 204 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 204 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 204 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 3 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 3 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 3 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 2 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 1 occurrence88–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 3 occurrences78–73 Mya — about 3 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 6 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 15 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 18 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 17 occurrences54–49 Mya — about 18 occurrences49–44 Mya — about 13 occurrences44–39 Mya — about 19 occurrences39–34 Mya — about 15 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 6 occurrences29–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–19 Mya — about 6 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–9.7 Mya — about 17 occurrences9.7–4.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.9–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences137.05 Mya129 ka146 Mya0 Mya

204 occurrences of Teredo on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

204 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

83 formations

Clayton — 31.90°N, 86.88°WClayton — 31.90°N, 87.07°WClayton — 30.71°N, 84.86°WClayton — 31.93°N, 86.70°WClayton — 31.95°N, 86.71°WClayton — 31.98°N, 87.22°WClayton — 31.99°N, 87.13°WClayton — 37.18°N, 89.07°WLlajas — 34.31°N, 118.67°WLlajas — 34.32°N, 118.65°WMoodys Branch — 32.01°N, 92.00°WMoodys Branch — 31.88°N, 88.68°WMoodys Branch — 32.33°N, 90.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 31.67°N, 92.89°WLondon Clay — 50.83°N, 0.78°WLondon Clay — 50.89°N, 1.28°WLondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WLondon Clay — 51.23°N, 0.85°WLondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.17°N, 2.70°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.15°N, 2.57°ENanjemoy — 38.51°N, 77.02°WNanjemoy — 38.78°N, 76.87°WNanjemoy — 38.82°N, 76.75°WNanjemoy — 37.32°N, 77.28°WAquia — 38.82°N, 76.75°WAquia — 38.70°N, 76.97°WAquia — 38.46°N, 77.27°WAquia — 38.58°N, 77.12°WAquia — 38.27°N, 77.18°WMartinez — 38.00°N, 122.20°WPorters Creek — 31.90°N, 86.88°WPorters Creek — 31.99°N, 87.29°WPorters Creek — 31.97°N, 87.20°WKeasey — 45.98°N, 123.28°WSan Francisquito — 34.42°N, 117.85°WBarton Clay — 50.74°N, 1.69°WMakatini — 27.17°S, 32.17°EMakatini — 27.36°S, 32.16°EMakatini — 27.53°S, 32.17°EOkinoshima — 32.72°N, 132.55°EOkinoshima — 32.87°N, 129.55°ETallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WTallahatta — 31.87°N, 88.32°WRipley — 35.32°N, 88.42°WRipley — 35.29°N, 88.60°WRipley — 35.38°N, 88.40°WTejon — 34.96°N, 118.87°WTejon — 34.93°N, 118.93°WTejon — 34.93°N, 118.83°WSanta Susana — 34.07°N, 118.54°WSanta Susana — 34.26°N, 118.69°WSanta Susana — 34.22°N, 118.73°WHolywell Nodular Chalk — 51.25°N, 0.15°WPrairie Bluff — 31.98°N, 86.00°WPrairie Bluff — 31.99°N, 85.92°WHiraiga — 39.85°N, 141.97°EHiraiga — 40.00°N, 141.83°ETanohata — 39.85°N, 141.97°ETanohata — 40.00°N, 141.83°ELisbon — 31.70°N, 88.28°WLisbon — 31.75°N, 88.10°WSt Lucia — 28.45°S, 32.32°ESt Lucia — 28.03°S, 32.28°E

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The named rock units Teredo has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 59 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 40 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Teredo and its relatives

Eocene

Where Teredo and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,614 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 157 sites for Teredo, and this reads all 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

96 references

Each of the 204 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. 84 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 content2

Picture of Teredo

Credit
United States Geological Survey
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
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 itTeredinidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

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