Rafinesquina

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Rafinesquina
Temporal range: Darriwilian–Ludlow
Rafinesquina ponderosa (fossil brachiopod) (Grant Lake Formation, Upper Ordovician; south of Excello, Ohio, USA) 1 (49710941141).jpg
Rafinesquina ponderosa from the Excello South Outcrop near the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana tristate area
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Brachiopoda
Class: Strophomenata
Order: Strophomenida
Family: Rafinesquinidae
Subfamily: Rafinesquininae
Genus: Rafinesquina
Clarke and Hall, 1892
Type species
Leptaena alternata
Conrad, 1838
Species

See Species

Rafinesquina is an extinct genus of large brachiopod that existed from the Darriwilian to the Ludlow epoch. [1]

Contents

The genus was named in honor of polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz. [2]

Description

Rafinesquina's members were epifaunal, meaning they lived on top of the seafloor, not buried within it, and were suspension feeders. [3] Rafinesquina normally have a concavo-convex profile, with radiating striae of alternating size which are crossed with finer concentric striae. [3] Their width is usually greater than their length, like most Strophomenids. Members of this genus had shells that grew in increments, with each increment forming a layer of the shell (much like trees do with their rings). In 1982, Gary D. Rosenberg analyzed specimens of Rafinesquina alternata previously inferred to have lived in a shallow subtidal environment and proposed it could be possible to estimate the total number of days in a lunar month (the period between full moons) during the Late Ordovician using layer counting. [4]

Distribution

Rafinesquina specimens had a cosmopolitan distribution, and their fossils can be found in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. [1] [5] [6] [7]

Species

Species in the genus Rafinesquina include: [6] [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silurian</span> Third period of the Paleozoic Era, 443–419 million years ago

The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozoic Era. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the exact dates are uncertain by a few million years. The base of the Silurian is set at a series of major Ordovician–Silurian extinction events when up to 60% of marine genera were wiped out.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brachiopod</span> Phylum of marine animals also known as lamp shells

Brachiopods, phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection. Two major categories are traditionally recognized, articulate and inarticulate brachiopods. The word "articulate" is used to describe the tooth-and-groove structures of the valve-hinge which is present in the articulate group, and absent from the inarticulate group. This is the leading diagnostic skeletal feature, by which the two main groups can be readily distinguished as fossils. Articulate brachiopods have toothed hinges and simple, vertically oriented opening and closing muscles. Conversely, inarticulate brachiopods have weak, untoothed hinges and a more complex system of vertical and oblique (diagonal) muscles used to keep the two valves aligned. In many brachiopods, a stalk-like pedicle projects from an opening near the hinge of one of the valves, known as the pedicle or ventral valve. The pedicle, when present, keeps the animal anchored to the seabed but clear of sediment which would obstruct the opening.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strophomenata</span> Extinct class of marine lamp shells

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Leptaena is an extinct genus of mid-sized brachiopod that existed from the Dariwilian epoch to the Emsian epoch, though some specimens have been found in strata as late in age as the Tournasian epoch. Like some other Strophomenids, Lepteana were epifaunal, meaning they lived on top of the seafloor, not buried within it, and were suspension feeders.

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References

  1. 1 2 Colmenar, Jorge (2016). "Ordovician rafinesquinine brachiopods from peri-Gondwana" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 61 (2): 293–326. doi: 10.4202/app.00102.2014 . S2CID   54862401 . Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  2. Thompson, Ida (September 1982). National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils. New York: Alfred a Knopf Inc. pp. 650–651. ISBN   978-0-394-52412-2.
  3. 1 2 Stigall, Alycia. "Rafinesquina". Atlas of Ordovician Life. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  4. Rosenberg, Gary (1982). "Growth rhythms in the brachiopod Rafinesquina alternata from the Late Ordovician of southeastern Indiana". Paleobiology. 8 (4): 389–401. doi:10.1017/S0094837300007132. S2CID   131583623 . Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  5. Global Biodiversity Information Facility
  6. 1 2 Paleobiology Database
  7. 1 2 Fossilworks
  8. Catalog of Life