Triplofusus giganteus

Triplofusus giganteus, commonly known as the Florida horse conch or the giant horse conch, is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies. On average, it weighs over 11 pounds (5.0 kg).

Triplofusus giganteus

Heather Dine - Florida Keys NMS · 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
TriplofususPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Fasciolariidae
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Fasciolariidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Fasciolariidae
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 12 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 12 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 9 of 12 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 12 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 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 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 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 0.3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.3 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

12 occurrences of Triplofusus giganteus 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

5 formations

Pamlico — 32.78°N, 79.93°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WCaloosahatchee — 26.92°N, 81.99°WFort Thompson — 26.79°N, 81.30°WFort Thompson — 26.76°N, 81.44°WGoose Creek — 33.33°N, 80.15°WBermont — 27.72°N, 82.43°W

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The named rock units Triplofusus giganteus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Triplofusus giganteus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Triplofusus giganteus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

699 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Triplofusus giganteus, 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

10 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. 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 Triplofusus giganteus

Credit
Heather Dine - Florida Keys NMS
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

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 itTriplofusus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Kiener 1840)