Loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes.
Scallop is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which also includes the thorny oysters.
Chesapecten jeffersonius is the fossilized form of an extinct scallop, which lived in the early Pliocene epoch between four and five million years ago on Virginia's coastal plain. Chesapecten jeffersonius are commonly found in strata exposed along Coastal Plain cliffs along major rivers in southeastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina, and it is the index fossil for the Lower Yorktown Formation.
Stupendemys is an extinct genus of freshwater side-necked turtle, belonging to the family Podocnemididae. It is the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed, with a carapace over 2 meters long. Its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the Middle Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 13 to 5 million years ago. Male specimens are known to have possessed bony horns growing from the front edges of the shell and the discovery of the fossil of a young adult shows that the carapace of these turtles flattens with age. A fossil skull described in 2021 indicates that Stupendemys was a generalist feeder.
Argopecten gibbus, the Atlantic calico scallop, is a species of medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Obinautilus is an extinct genus of shelled cephalopod that has been variously identified as an argonautid octopod or a nautilid. It is known from the Late Oligocene to Pliocene of Japan. The shell is discoidal and very involute, with rapidly expanding and compressed whorls, fine radial ribs, a rounded venter with a shallow furrow, and almost closed umbilicus.
Pecten jacobaeus, the Mediterranean scallop, is a species of scallop, an edible saltwater scallop, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Kyptoceras is a small extinct artiodactyl ungulate mammal of the family Protoceratidae, endemic to southeastern North America from the Miocene to Early Pliocene epoch 23.03—3.6 Ma, existing for approximately 19.43 million years. The species name, amatorum, comes in honor of all amateur fossil collectors, including Frank Garcia the amateur who found it and donated it to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Hesperotestudo is an extinct genus of tortoise native to North and Central America from the Early Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. Species of Hesperotesudo varied widely in size, with a large undescribed specimen from the Late Pleistocene of El Salvador reaching 150 cm (4.9 ft) in carapace length, larger than that of extant giant tortoises. Historically considered a subgenus of Geochelone, it is now considered to be distantly related to that genus. Its relationships with other tortoises are uncertain. The exposed areas of the bodies of Hesperotesudo species were extensively covered with large dermal ossicles, which in life were covered in keratin. It has been suggested that species of Hesperotestudo were relatively tolerant of cold weather. Hesperotestudo became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene co-incident with the arrival of the first humans in North America, and sites have been found where Hesperotestudo were butchered.
Ontocetus is an extinct genus of walrus, an aquatic carnivoran of the family Odobenidae, endemic to coastal regions of the southern North Sea and the southeastern coastal regions of the U.S. during the Miocene-Pleistocene. It lived from 13.6 mya—300,000 years ago, existing for approximately 13.3 million years.
Otodus chubutensis, meaning "ear-shaped tooth of Chubut", from Ancient Greek ὠτ and ὀδούς – thus, "ear-shaped tooth", is an extinct species of prehistoric megatoothed sharks in the genus Otodus, that lived during Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs, approximately 28 – 5 million years ago. The largest individuals were about 13.5 metres (44 ft) long. This shark is considered to be a close relative of the famous prehistoric megatoothed shark, O. megalodon. However, as is the case with O. megalodon, the classification of this species is disputed.
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 of these ocenebrinid murexes are descended from the Eocene murex, Tritonopsis. Ecphoras are indigenous to the North American Eastern Seaboard, being found in marine strata from the Late Eocene until their extinction during the Pliocene. Many ecphora species are important index fossils.
Thecachampsa is an extinct genus of gavialoid crocodylian, traditionally regarded as a member of the subfamily Tomistominae. Fossils have been found from the eastern United States in deposits of Miocene age. Those named in the 19th century were distinguished primarily by the shape of their teeth, and have since been combined with T. antiquus. More recently erected species were reassigned from other genera, although their assignment to Thecachampsa has since been questioned.
The Antarctic scallop is a species of bivalve mollusc in the large family of scallops, the Pectinidae. It was thought to be the only species in the genus Adamussium until an extinct Pliocene species was described in 2016. Its exact relationship to other members of the Pectinidae is unclear. It is found in the ice-cold seas surrounding Antarctica, sometimes at great depths.
Ecphora is a genus of extinct predatory ocenebrinid murexes indigenous to the North American Eastern Seaboard from Miocene until their extinction during the Pliocene. The common name for this genus and a group of related genera is "ecphora"(s).
Chlamys asper is an extinct species of saltwater scallop, a fossil marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. This species was described by Sowerby in 1847 under the name Pecten asper. The fossils date from the period of the Pliocene to Pleistocene in Malaysia and Miocene in Indonesia.
Gigantopecten is a genus of fossil scallops, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Gigantopecten latissimus is a species of fossil scallop, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. This species lived during the Miocene and the Pliocene. Fossils have been found in the sediments of France and Spain.
Sediliopsis chowanensis is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pseudomelatomidae, the turrids and allies.
Adamussium is a genus of scallops belonging to the family Pectenidae from the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. There are three known species but only one is extant, the Antarctic scallop. Of the two extinct species A. jonkersi is from the Oligocene deposits on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands and the other, A. necopinatum, was described in 2016 from Pliocene marine deposits in the Vestfold Hills of East Antarctica.
