Propeamussiidae, sometimes referred to as glass scallops mud scallops or mud pectens, are a
taxonomic
280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy
Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of saltwater clams,
marine bivalve
Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...
mollusc
Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...
s in the order
Pectinida
Pectinida is a taxonomic order of large and medium-sized saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs, commonly known as scallops and their allies. It is believed that they began evolutionarily in the late Middle Ordovician epoch; many species, o ...
.
Biolib
/ref> As members of the superfamily Pectinoidea
The Pectinoidea are a Taxonomic rank, superfamily of marine (ocean), marine bivalve molluscs, including the scallops and spiny oysters.Gofas, S. (2012). Pectinoidea. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.o ...
, they are closely related to scallop
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famili ...
s. Extant species are small in size, poorly known, and inhabit deep waters. None of the species within this family has a common name.
Valves
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings, ...
of these animals are fragile, either equivalved or nearly so, small to medium-sized, and are described as ''subcircular'' to ''obscurely ovate'' in shape. Like other scallops, the valves have pronounced "ears" on the anterior and posterior sides of the hinge joint. Valves are also very nearly equilateral. All species have a byssal notch which will vary with depth of species.Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
period to the Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
period (242.0 to 0.0 Ma). The majority of fossils of this family are distributed throughout Europe and North America.[The Paleobiology Database]
/ref>
Genera
Genera within the family Propeamussidae include:
References
Bivalve families
Extant Triassic first appearances
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