Teredina

Teredina
Temporal range: 93.6–3.6 Ma
Late Cretaceous - late Pliocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Subclass: Heterodonta
Order: Myoida
Genus: Teredina

Teredina is an extinct genus of fossil bivalve mollusks that lived from the Late Cretaceous to the late Pliocene in Asia, Europe, and North America.[1]

Teredina shells consist of 2 short, hooked valves with a pair of furrows and each valve with transverse ridges.[2] The overall body was long and clud-shaped. Teredina used the ridges on each valve to bore into drift wood by rocking back and forth; its long body shape allowed for large intestines for it to carry bacteria capable of breaking down the cellulose in the wood.[2]Petrified drift wood with Teridina burrows can be found in the Cretaceous rocks of Vancouver Island.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Teredina in the Paleobiology Database
  2. 1 2 3 Ludvigsen, Rolf & Beard, Graham. 1997. West Coast Fossils: A Guide to the Ancient Life of Vancouver Island. pg. 107
  • Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 111)


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