''Trisecphora'' is a
genus of
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
predatory ocenebrinid murexes indigenous to the
Miocene coastline of what is now
Maryland,
North Carolina, and
Virginia from the
Aquitanian epoch until their extinction near the end of the
Serravallian epoch. The common name for this genus and their relatives is "
ecphora
Ecphora is the common name for a group of extinct predatory marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks within the family Muricidae, the rocks snails or murexes. The common name is based on the first officially described genus, ''Ecphora (genus), E ...
"(s).
Etymology
The name "Ecphora" is Greek, meaning "bearing out." The word was originally used by
Vitruvius to signify the projecture of a member or moulding of a column, and here refers to the distinctive "T-shaped" ribs that project from the shell.
[Oxford English Dictionary, "Ecphora" entry.] The prefix "tris" is added to denote how all members of the genus have three ribs.
Subdivisions
As originally proposed by Petuch in 1988, ''Trisecphora'' was presented as a precursor subgenus of ''Ecphora'' (''
sensu stricto
''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...
''), even though a subgenus can not technically precede the genus that contains it. Later, Petuch would promote ''Trisecphora'' to the status of full genus.
List of species
*''
T. chamnessi''
(Petuch, 1989)
*''
T. eccentrica''
(Petuch, 1989)
*''
T. prunicola''
(Petuch, 1988)
*''
T. schmidti''
(Petuch, 1989)
*''
T. tricostata''
(Martin, 1904) (
type species, synonym = ''Ecphora tricostata'')
*''
T. martini''
(Petuch, 1988)
*''
T. scientistensis''
(Petuch, 1992)
*''
T. bartoni''
(Petuch and Drolshagen, 2010)
*''
T. smithae''
(Petuch, 1988)
*''
T. patuxentia''
(Petuch, 1989)
*''
T. shattucki''
(Petuch, 1989)
Evolution
''Trisecphora'' is one of three daughter genera of the
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
to
Miocene ecphora ''
Ecphorosycon'', the other two being ''
Siphoecphora'', and ''
Chesathais''. ''Trisecphora'' and its sister genera diverged from ''Ecphorosycon'' during a
speciation event during the Aquitanian epoch in the
Chesapeake Bay. During the
Langhian epoch, ''Trisecphora'' underwent its own speciation event where several species, and the first of a divergent lineage, ''
Ecphora wardi
Ecphora is the common name for a group of extinct predatory marine gastropod mollusks within the family Muricidae, the rocks snails or murexes. The common name is based on the first officially described genus, ''Ecphora''. The entire lineage o ...
'' of genus ''
Ecphora
Ecphora is the common name for a group of extinct predatory marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks within the family Muricidae, the rocks snails or murexes. The common name is based on the first officially described genus, ''Ecphora (genus), E ...
'', were produced. Species of ''Trisecphora'' coexisted with ''Ecphorosycon'', ''Chesathais'', and ''Ecphora'' (together with its subgenus ''
Planecphora''), until the beginning of the Serravallian, when ''Ecphorosycon'' went extinct (''Trisecphoras sister genus, ''Siphoecphora'' would later go extinct during the Langhian). ''Trisecphora'', itself, would go extinct during the middle of the Serravallian when a warming event killed the last species of that genus and of ''Chesathais'' off, as well as
extirpating ''Planecphora'' (which would survive until the Pliocene in Floridian coral reefs).
References
Nomenclator Zoologicus info
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7843970
Ocenebrinae
Miocene gastropods
Index fossils
Serravallian extinctions
Aquitanian genus first appearances
Fossil taxa described in 1988