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Texigryphaea

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Texigryphaea
Temporal range: Albian to Cenomanian
~105.3–99.7 Ma
Texigryphaea mucronata from the Walnut Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Bell County, Texas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Ostreida
Family: Gryphaeidae
Subfamily: Pycnodonteinae
Genus: Texigryphaea
Stenzel, 1959
Species[1][2]

About 11 species, see text

Texigryphaea is an extinct genus of oyster belonging to the order Ostreida and family Gryphaeidae.[3] It dates to the Albian to Cenomanian Ages of the Cretaceous period and is primarily found in Texas and the southern Western Interior of North America.[1] However, specimens have been identified from northern Spain.[4]

The genus were free-living benthic oysters that were often the dominant species in late Albian biomes of the Western Interior Seaway.[1] Some limestone beds of the Muleros Formation near El Paso, Texas, consist almost entirely of fossil fragments of T. washitaensis.[2] Most species preferred soft substrates in quiet environments, but T. navia was adapted to firmer substrates in more energetic environments.[1] The genus differs from Jurassic Gryphaeidae in possessing a vesicular shell structure and chomata (a fine set of parallel ribs found on the inner valves).[4]

T. tucumcarii is considered to be a synonym for T. pitcheri.[1]

Selected species

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kues, Barry S. (July 1989). "Taxonomy and variability of three Texigryphaea (Bivalvia) species from their Lower Cretaceous (Albian) type localities in New Mexico and Oklahoma". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (4): 454–483. Bibcode:1989JPal...63..454K. doi:10.1017/S0022336000019697.
  2. ^ a b Strain, W.S. (1976). "New formation names in the Cretaceous at Cerro de Cristo Rey, Dona Ana County, New Mexico; Appendix 2" (PDF). New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir. 31: 77–82. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  3. ^ Cox, L.R. (1971). "Part N errata and revisions". In Moore, R.C. (ed.). Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Mollusca 6, Bivalvia 3. Lawrence, KS: Geological Society of America and University of Kansas. pp. N1214–N1217.
  4. ^ a b Hallam, A.; Gould, S.J. (17 June 1975). "The evolution of British and American Middle and Upper Jurassic Gryphaea : a biometric study". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences. 189 (1097): 511–542. Bibcode:1975RSPSB.189..511H. doi:10.1098/rspb.1975.0071.