Megalodon Temporal range: Early Devonian–Early Jurassic ~ | |
---|---|
Fossil of Megalodon | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Bivalvia |
Order: | † Megalodontida |
Superfamily: | † Megalodontoidea |
Family: | † Megalodontidae |
Genus: | † Megalodon Sowerby, 1827 |
Species | |
See text. |
Megalodon is 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. Jurassic relatives of Megalodon such as Pachyrisma grande were closely related to the rudists. [2]
Fossils of the bivalve Megalodon have been found in: [1]
An aptychus is a type of marine fossil. It is a hard anatomical structure, a sort of curved shelly plate, now understood to be part of the body of an ammonite. Paired aptychi have, on rare occasions, been found at or within the aperture of ammonite shells. The aptychus was usually composed of calcite, whereas the ammonite shell was aragonite.
Macrofossils, also known as megafossils, are preserved organic remains large enough to be visible without a microscope. The term macrofossil stands in opposition to the term microfossil. Microfossils, by contrast, require substantial magnification for evaluation by fossil-hunters or professional paleontologists. As a result, most fossils observed in the field and most "museum-quality" specimens are macrofossils.
Megalodontidae is an extinct family of bivalve molluscs that reportedly lived from the Devonian to the Jurassic period.
Rudists are a group of extinct box-, tube- or ring-shaped marine heterodont bivalves belonging to the order Hippuritida that arose during the Late Jurassic and became so diverse during the Cretaceous that they were major reef-building organisms in the Tethys Ocean, until their complete extinction at the close of the Cretaceous.
Megalodon is an extinct species of giant shark.
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Requienia is an extinct genus of fossil saltwater clam, a marine bivalve molluscs in the order Hippuritida, family Requieniidae. These rudists lived in the Cretaceous period, from the Valanginian age (136.4–140.2) to the Campanian age. They were stationary intermediate-level suspension feeders.
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