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Chlamys and Pectens


dalmayshun

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Hi everyone, I am hoping to be able to grab someone's attention with a couple of questions. I am a fairly new fossil hunter, (2 years now) and try to identify the fossils I find by comparing them to other images through the forum, or from some of the internet images, such as from the Florida Museum of Paleontology. Sometimes I am successful,  often I find two or three differently named fossils that look alike, so my next step to to see where they come from and if my were from the same geologic layer or time. From my latest trip I found wonderful scallops and find myself with a few questions which I am hoping someone will be kind enough to answer. 

    1. When the ears of a scallop or bivalve are unequal, is the longer one always to the left when looking at the shell surface, and is that always the bottom half? 

    2. Is there an easy visual way to tell a pecten from a chlamys? or does it have to do with interior structure? 

    3. Can the differences between a Carolinapecten, a Chesapeakepecten, a Christinapecten be easily discerned?

    4. What is up with those unusually named fossils, in my case I am wondering about the Dimarzipecten crocus? 

Thanks to  you bivalve and scallop experts out there for aiding me. Rod

 

 

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Linnean binomials are mostly a mixture of Greek and/or Latin,and or "appositonyms"/"adjectonyms",so derived from people(discoverer of the fossil,or his favourite cartoon character*,a property or placenames

* although too frivolous naming is not encouraged:P

A pointer tot the stratus typicus or geological era is also always a possibility(e.g. "oligocenica")

For instance Fortipecten looks "strongly built",and was named accordingly

 

Dimarzi might have been a locality or a person

edit Dimarzipecten might have been renamed,but that might be the case for more of the taxa you mentioned

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, dalmayshun said:

Hi everyone, I am hoping to be able to grab someone's attention with a couple of questions. I am a fairly new fossil hunter, (2 years now) and try to identify the fossils I find by comparing them to other images through the forum, or from some of the internet images, such as from the Florida Museum of Paleontology. Sometimes I am successful,  often I find two or three differently named fossils that look alike, so my next step to to see where they come from and if my were from the same geologic layer or time. From my latest trip I found wonderful scallops and find myself with a few questions which I am hoping someone will be kind enough to answer. 

    1. When the ears of a scallop or bivalve are unequal, is the longer one always to the left when looking at the shell surface, and is that always the bottom half? 

    2. Is there an easy visual way to tell a pecten from a chlamys? or does it have to do with interior structure? 

    3. Can the differences between a Carolinapecten, a Chesapeakepecten, a Christinapecten be easily discerned?

    4. What is up with those unusually named fossils, in my case I am wondering about the Dimarzipecten crocus? 

Thanks to  you bivalve and scallop experts out there for aiding me. Rod

 

 

 

The length of the auricles do not have any determination on left and right valves.  If the adductor scar is on the left it is the left valve.  If its on the right its the right valve.  Here is a good description of bivalve shell anatomy.  LINK

 

Naming is based on an author and the reasoning behind using sets of different characteristics to justify classification differing from that established.  Peer review of the paper determines whether that name is justified. It used to be that if the left valve was flat and the right very convex it was a Pecten and if both valves were inflated and kind of scaly it was Chlamys.   Pectinidae has gone through a big spurt of new classification and it is difficult keep track.  Using a website like WoRMS helps as it tracks synonyms and acceptance.  LINK

 

Yes Carolinapecten and Chesapecten can easily be discerned.  Christinapecten was described by Ward as a subgenus for Chesapecten marylandicus and used incorrectly by Petuch as a genus for Chlamys decemnarius.

 

Mike

 

"A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington

"I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain

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once again, have read all the references linked, and found them quite interesting. My knowledge has certainly moved up a notch...at my age I may retain it for a relatively short time, but at least I know some things today, I didn't know before. If i ask the same questions again a couple of weeks from now, ignore me. LOL. Teasing aside, I so appreciate the help in understanding these beautiful fossils of south Florida. Rod

 

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