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Scaphopoda
| Description | The tusk shells or tooth shells, often referred to by the more-technical term scaphopods (From Ancient Greek, σκᾰ́φης (skáphē) "boat", and πούς (poús) "foot"), are members of a class of shelled marine mollusc with worldwide distribution, and are the only class of exclusively infaunal marine molluscs. Shells of species within this class range from about 0.5 to 15 cm in length. Members of the order Dentaliida tend to be significantly larger than those of the order Gadilida. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaphopoda, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Mollusca : Scaphopoda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Common Name | tusk shell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Scaphopoda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 248 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extant Size (PBDB) | 92 (37%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 461 - 450 Ma Ordovician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | slow-moving | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vision | blind | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | deposit feeder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ecospace Comments | ECOSPACE: 523. LIFE HISTORY: Predator, mainly Foraminifera, but also other micro-prey, according to Kiel & Goedert (2006); shallow infaunal, slow, miner according to Bambach et al. (2007). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | aragonite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. J. Sepkoski, Jr. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Name(s) | Tusk Shell, Elefanttänder, Tandsnäckor, Tusk Shells, Scaphopodes, Dentálio, Scafópode, Grabfüßer, Kahnfüßer, Scaphopoden, Escafópodos, Olifantstandjes, Scaphopodians, Scaphopods, Spade-footed Mollusks, Stoottandjes, Tooth Shells, 掘足 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaphopoda |
External Images
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Dentaliida order | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 2,549 | 461 Ma Middle Ordovician | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Dentalioida order | listed (PBDB) | 0 Ma Extant | |||
| Dentaloidea order | listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Gadilida order | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 613 | 290 Ma Permian | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Solenoconchia order | listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Cadulidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Episiphonidae family | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Entalis genus | listed (PBDB) | 26 | 336 Ma Carboniferous | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Throopella ✝ genus | doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Detnalium zephyrinum species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Ditrupa dentalinum species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Phyloblatta prosseri species | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
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| 1862 | Scaphopoda Bronn |
| 1895 | Scaphopoda Stanton |
| 1984 | Scaphopoda Squires p. 15 |
| 1987 | Scaphopoda Squires p. 20 |
| 1987 | Scaphopoda Ward and Blackwelder p. 131 |
| 1988 | Scaphopoda Squires p. 7 |
| 2001 | Scaphopoda Wells and Houston p. 85 |
| 2002 | Scaphopoda Sepkoski, Jr. |
| 2006 | Scaphopoda Giribet et al. p. 7724 |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
Lake Nacogdoches spillway, Nacogdoches County, Texas, USA