Verticordiidae

Verticordiidae is a family of benthic marine bivalves in the superorder Anomalodesmata. These clams range from 2 - 200 millimeters in length and are mainly found in coastal waters surrounding Australia and the Americas, though a few species within this family such as Haliris mediopacifica are found in the middle of the ocean. Verticordiidae is known for being a family of septibranchs, or predatory bivalves, rather than filter feeders. Clams dig vertical burrows in substrate and use papillae around the edges of their inhalant siphons to detect microscopic prey. Some clams in this family, specifically in the genus Trigonulina, have distinct extended circular formations on their shells.

Verticordiidae

Marie Hennion · 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
Sits inside
VerticordioideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
infaunalPBDB
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 4 of 200 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 15 of 200 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 66 of 200 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 34 of 200 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 32 of 200 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 38 of 200 occurrencesPleistocene — about 11 of 200 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 2 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 2 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 4 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 4 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 6 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 3 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 4 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 5 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 20 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 18 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 11 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 12 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 11 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 20 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 35 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences66 Mya129 ka74 Mya0 Mya

200 occurrences of Verticordiidae 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

200 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

67 formations

Cook Mountain — 31.29°N, 86.56°WCook Mountain — 31.75°N, 92.97°WCook Mountain — 32.04°N, 88.73°WCook Mountain — 32.10°N, 88.86°WCook Mountain — 32.32°N, 89.03°WCook Mountain — 32.17°N, 88.83°WCook Mountain — 31.11°N, 95.94°WCook Mountain — 31.20°N, 95.73°WCook Mountain — 30.64°N, 96.52°WRed Bluff — 30.98°N, 88.73°WRed Bluff — 31.66°N, 88.66°WGurabo — 19.30°N, 71.67°WGurabo — 19.30°N, 70.50°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.33°WGurabo — 18.93°N, 71.62°WGurabo — 19.48°N, 71.17°WMoodys Branch — 32.85°N, 90.41°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 — 31.66°N, 92.90°WMoodys Branch — 32.98°N, 90.30°WBowden — 17.88°N, 76.28°WKincaid — 31.28°N, 96.98°WByram — 32.01°N, 89.38°WByram — 32.18°N, 90.25°WByram — 32.32°N, 90.86°WByram — 32.41°N, 90.84°WReklaw — 30.11°N, 97.32°WReklaw — 30.01°N, 97.26°WReklaw — 30.80°N, 96.72°WLellinge Greensand — 55.71°N, 12.60°ELellinge Greensand — 55.48°N, 10.47°EEscudo de Veraguas — 9.09°N, 81.55°WEscudo de Veraguas — 9.10°N, 81.57°WLisbon — 31.50°N, 87.80°WLisbon — 31.55°N, 87.91°WMint Spring — 31.97°N, 89.50°WMint Spring — 31.98°N, 89.42°WMint Spring — 32.17°N, 90.18°WMint Spring — 32.36°N, 90.87°WCayo Agua — 9.18°N, 82.05°WCayo Agua — 9.15°N, 82.03°WCastle Hayne — 34.44°N, 77.89°WCastle Hayne — 34.30°N, 77.95°WCastle Hayne — 34.23°N, 77.94°WYazoo Clay — 32.33°N, 90.15°WYazoo Clay — 32.01°N, 92.00°WChipola — 30.44°N, 85.19°WCrockett — 30.63°N, 96.54°WCrockett — 31.40°N, 93.70°WCrockett — 32.35°N, 92.72°WNancy Point — 9.15°N, 81.95°WMaastrichtian chalk — 56.97°N, 9.68°EWaihao Greensand — 44.78°S, 171.17°EPallinup Siltstone — 35.02°S, 117.89°ECaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WCaloosahatchee — 26.80°N, 81.37°WMoin — 9.99°N, 83.05°WMoin — 10.01°N, 83.06°WGosport Sand — 31.54°N, 87.52°WGosport Sand — 31.55°N, 87.91°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Verticordiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Verticordiidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Verticordiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,596 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 126 sites for Verticordiidae, 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

51 references

Each of the 200 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. 39 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 Verticordiidae

Credit
Marie Hennion
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Verticordiidae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itVerticordioidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stoliczka 1871