Megalodon (bivalve)

Megalodon (bivalve)
For the prehistoric shark, see Megalodon.
Megalodon
Temporal range: Devonian–Jurassic
Shell
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Subclass: Heterodonta
Order: Hippuritoida
Family: Megalodontidae
Morris & Lycett, 1853
Genus: Megalodon
Sowerby, 1827

Megalodon was an extinct genus of bivalve molluscs that reportedly lived from the Devonian to the Jurassic Period.[1] It is not clear, however, that all the fossils assigned to Megalodon from that span of time really belong in the same genus.[2] Jurassic relatives of Megalodon such as Pachyrisma grande were closely related to the rudists.[3] Megalodon is the only genus in the family Megalodontidae.

Nomenclature

A family of insects has also been called "Megalodontidae", containing the sawfly genus Megalodontes. In order to remove the homonymy, that family has been renamed Megalodontesidae.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Megalodon". The Paleobiology Database. http://pbdb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=18606&is_real_user=1. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  2. ^ McGugan, A. (1960). "A New Species of the Pelecypod Megalodon from the Permo-Carboniferous of the Banff Area, Alberta". Journal of Paleontology 34 (1): 101–106. 
  3. ^ Skelton, Peter W., & Smith, Andrew B. (2000). "Preliminary phylogeny for rudist bivalves: sifting clades from grades". In Harper, E. M., Taylor, J. D., & Crame, J. A.. Evolutionary Biology of the Bivalvia. Special Publication No. 177. Bath, UK: Geological Society. pp. 97–127. ISBN 1-86239-076-2. 
  4. ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1996). "Opinion 1829. Megalodontidae Konow, 1897 (Insecta, Hymenoptera): spelling emended to Megalodontesidae, so removing the homonymy with Megalodontidae Morris & Lycett, 1853 (Mollusca, Bivalvia)". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 53 (1): 66–67. http://biostor.org/reference/50355. 


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