''Texigryphaea'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

belonging to the order

Ostreida The order Ostreida includes the true oysters. One superfamily (Ostreoidea) and two extant families are recognised within it. The two families are Ostreidae, the true oysters, and Gryphaeidae The Gryphaeidae, common name the foam oysters or ...

and family

Gryphaeidae The Gryphaeidae, common name the foam oysters or honeycomb oysters, are a family of marine bivalve mollusks. This family of bivalves is very well represented in the fossil record, however the number of living species is very few. All species ...

. It dates to the

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

Ages Ages may refer to: *Advanced glycation end-products, known as AGEs *Ages, Kentucky, census-designated place, United States * ''Ages'' (album) by German electronic musician Edgar Froese *The geologic time scale, a system of chronological measuremen ...

of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Period (punctuation) * Era, a length or span of time *Menstruation, commonly referred to as a "period" Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (o ...

and is primarily found in Texas and the southern Western Interior of North America. However, specimens have been identified from northern Spain. The genus were free-living

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

oysters that were often the dominant species in late Albian

biomes A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community (ecology), community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Art ...

of the

Western Interior Seaway The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, or the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea (geology), inland sea that existed roughly over the present-day Great Plains of ...

. Some limestone beds of the Muleros Formation near

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, consist almost entirely of fossil fragments of ''T. washitaensis''. Most species preferred soft substrates in quiet environments, but ''T. navia'' was adapted to firmer substrates in more energetic environments. The genus differs from

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 143.1 Mya. ...

Gryphaeidae in possessing a vesicular shell structure and chomata (a fine set of parallel ribs found on the inner valves). ''T. tucumcarii'' is considered to be a synonym for ''T. pitcheri''.

Selected species

* '' Texigryphaea belvederensis'' (Hill & Vaughan 1898) * '' Texigryphaea corrugata'' (Say, 1823) * '' Texigryphaea gibberosa'' (Cragin, 1893) * '' Texigryphaea graysonana'' (Stanton, 1947) * '' Texigryphaea hilli'' (Cragin, 1891) * '' Texigryphaea marcoui'' (Hill and Vaughan, 1898) * '' Texigryphaea mucronata'' (Gabb, 1869) * '' Texigryphaea navia'' (Hall, 1856) * '' Texigryphaea pitcheri'' (Morton, 1834) * '' Texigryphaea roemeri'' (Marcou, 1862) * '' Texigryphaea washitaensis'' (Hill and Vaughan, 1898)

References

Paleozoic life Gryphaeidae Prehistoric bivalve genera Texigryphea sps

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

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