''Inoceramus'' (Greek: translation "strong pot") is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of fossil

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

pteriomorphia The Pteriomorphia comprise a subclass of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. It contains several major orders, including the Arcida, Ostreida, Pectinida, Limida, Mytilida, and Pteriida. It also contains some extinct and probably ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, biv ...

s that superficially resembled the related winged pearly oysters of the

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

genus '' Pteria''. They lived from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma ...

to latest

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

.''Inoceramus''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cre ...

.orgWard ''et al.''
"Ammonite and inoceramid bivalve extinction patterns in Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary sections of the Biscay region (southwestern France, northern Spain)"
''

Geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

'', 1991

Taxonomy

The

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of the inoceramids is disputed, with genera such as ''

Platyceramus ''Platyceramus'' was a genus of Cretaceous bivalve molluscs belonging to the extinct inoceramid lineage. It is sometimes classified as a subgenus of '' Inoceramus''. Size The largest and best known species is ''P. platinus''. Individuals of th ...

'' sometimes classified as

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed betw ...

within ''Inoceramus''. Also the number of valid species in this genus is disputed.

Description

Inoceramus steenstrup, world's largest fossil mollusk

Ogallala opaline sandstone with Cremnoceramus deformis fragments 20201115 143032

''Inoceramids'' had thick shells composed of "prisms" of

calcite Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scra ...

deposited perpendicular to the surface, and unweathered fossils commonly preserve the mother-of-pearl luster the shells had in life. Most species have prominent growth lines which appear as raised semicircles concentric to the growing edge of the shell. In 1952, the huge specimen of ''Inoceramus steenstrupi'' 187 cm long, was found in

Qilakitsoq Qilakitsoq is an Ghost town, abandoned settlement and an important archaeological site in Greenland. It became known as the discovery location of eight Mummy, mummified corpses from the Thule people, Thule period. The Inuit mummies of Qilakit ...

, the

Nuussuaq Peninsula Nuussuaq Peninsula (, old spelling: ''Nûgssuaq'') is a large (180x48 km) peninsula in western Greenland. Geography The waters around the peninsula are that of Baffin Bay. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by Disko Bay, ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

. This fossil is 83 Ma old, the Upper

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya (million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 mya. ...

or Lower

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campani ...

stage. Paleontologists suggest that the giant size of some species was an adaptation for life in the murky bottom waters, with a correspondingly large gill area that would have allowed the animal to survive in oxygen-deficient waters.

Selected species

*†''I. aequicostatus'' *†''I. albertensis'' *†''I. altifluminis'' *†''I. americanus'' *†''I. andinus'' *†''I. anglicus'' *†''I. anilis'' *†''I. anomalus'' *†''I. anomiaeformis'' *†''I. apicalis'' *†''I. arvanus'' *†''I. bellvuensis'' *†''I. biformis'' *†''I. brownei'' *†''I. carsoni'' *†''I. comancheanus'' *†''I. constellatus'' *†''I. corpulentus'' *†''I. coulthardi'' *†'' I. cuvieri'' *†''I. dakotensis'' *†''I. dominguesi'' *†''I. dowlingi'' *†''I. dunveganensis'' *†''I. elburzensis'' *†''I. everesti'' *†''I. fibrosus'' *†''I. formosulus'' *†''I. fragilis'' *†''I. frechi'' *†''I. galoi'' *†''I. gibbosus'' *†''I. ginterensis'' *†''I. glacierensis'' *†''I. haast'' *†''I. howelli'' *†''I. incelebratus'' *†''I. inconditus'' *†''I. kystatymensis'' *†''I. lamarcki'' *†''I. lateris'' *†''I. mesabiensis'' *†''I. morii'' *†''I. multiformis'' *†''I. mytiliformis'' *†''I. nipponicus'' *†''I. perplexus'' *†''I. pictus'' *†''I. pontoni'' *†''I. porrectus'' *†''I. prefragilis'' *†''I. proximus' *†''I. pseudolucifer'' *†''I. quenstedti'' *†''I. robertsoni'' *†''I. saskatchewanensis'' *†''I. selwyni'' *†''I. sokolovi'' *†''I. steinmanni'' *†''I. subdepressus'' *†''I. tenuirostratus'' *†''I. triangularis' *†''I. undabundus'' *†''I. ussuriensis''

Distribution

Species of ''Inoceramus'' had a worldwide distribution during the

and

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

periods (from 189.6 to 66.043 Ma). Many examples are found in the

Pierre Shale The Pierre Shale is a geologic formation or series in the Upper Cretaceous which occurs east of the Rocky Mountains in the Great Plains, from Pembina Valley in Canada to New Mexico. The Pierre Shale was described by Meek and Hayden in 1862 in ...

of the

Western Interior Seaway The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses. The ancient se ...

in North America. ''Inoceramus'' can also be found abundantly in the Cretaceous

Gault Clay The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in Fol ...

that underlies

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Other locations for this fossil include

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

,Ludvigsen & Beard, 1997, pp. 102–103 British Columbia, Colombia (

Hiló Formation The Hiló Formation ( es, Formación Hiló, Kih) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly shale formation dates to the Middle Cretaceous period; Late Albian to Early Cenom ...

, Tolima and

La Frontera Formation The La Frontera Formation ( es, Formación La Frontera, K2F, Ksf) is a geological formation, part of the Villeta Group, of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and neighbouring areas of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The sequence of limeston ...

, Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Huila),Acosta & Ulloa, 2001, p. 41 Spain, France, Germany, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Yukon), Chile, China, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Greenland, Hungary, India, Indian Ocean, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom, United States (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming), and Venezuela.

Gallery

File:InoceramusCretaceousSouthDakota.jpg, ''Inoceramus'' from the Cretaceous of South Dakota File:Inoceramidae - Inoceramus proximus.JPG, ''Inoceramus proximus'' File:Inoceramus cuvieri Palaeontological exhibition Prague.jpg, ''Inoceramus cuvieri'' File:Inoceramus vancouverensis 1.jpg, ''Inoceramus vancouverensis'' File:Inoceramus hobetsensis - National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo - DSC06954.JPG, ''Inoceramus hobetsensis''

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Upper Cretaceous Bivalvia of Alabama
{{Taxonbar, from=Q129300 Inoceramidae Prehistoric bivalve genera Jurassic bivalves Cretaceous bivalves Mesozoic Antarctica Mesozoic animals of Africa Mesozoic animals of Asia Cretaceous molluscs of Europe Prehistoric bivalves of North America Mesozoic animals of South America Mesozoic Chile Cretaceous Argentina Cretaceous Brazil Cretaceous Colombia Cretaceous Ecuador Cretaceous Peru Cretaceous Venezuela Early Jurassic genus first appearances Toarcian genera Aalenian genera Bajocian genera Bathonian genera Callovian genera Oxfordian genera Kimmeridgian genera Tithonian genera Berriasian genera Valanginian genera Hauterivian genera Barremian genera Aptian genera Albian genera Cenomanian genera Turonian genera Coniacian genera Santonian genera Campanian genera Maastrichtian genera Late Cretaceous genus extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1814 Fossils of Serbia