Gigantostrea is an extinct genus of marine bivalve mollusks belonging to the family Gryphaeidae.[1]

Gigantostrea
Temporal range: EoceneMiocene
Fossil shell of Gigantostrea gigantica from Oligocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Ostreida
Family: Gryphaeidae
Genus: Gigantostrea
Sacco, 1897

This genus is known in the fossil record from the Eocene to the Miocene (age range: from 48.6 to 15.97 million years ago).[2] These fossils have been found in Europe and United States.[2][3]

Description

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Shells of Gigantostrea gigantica can reach a size of about 100 millimetres (3.9 in).[4] These fossil shells are brittle, inequivalve, with the lower valve convex and the upper valve flat or slightly concave. The lower valve was cemented to the substrate.

Species

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Species within this genus include:[2]

  • Gigantostrea gigantica Solander in Brander 1766
  • Gigantostrea trigonalis Conrad 1854

References

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  1. ^ Encyclopedia of life
  2. ^ a b c Fossilworks
  3. ^ GBIF
  4. ^ "Ostreoidea". International Fossil Shells Museum.
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