Platyceramus

Taxobox
name = "Platyceramus"
fossil_range = Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Bivalvia
subclassis = Pteriomorphia
ordo = Praecardioida
familia = Inoceramidae
genus = "Platyceramus"
genus_authority =
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =Several, including: "Platyceramus platinus" "Platyceramus vanuxemi"

"Platyceramus" was a genus of Cretaceous bivalve molluscs belonging to the extinct inoceramid lineage. It is sometimes classified as a subgenus of "Inoceramus".

The largest and best known species is "P. platinus". Individuals of this species typically reached 1 m (3 feet 3 inches) or more in axial length, but fossil specimens 3 m (nearly 10 feet) long have been found, making it the largest known bivalve. Its huge but very thin shell often provided shelter for schools of small fish, some of which became trapped and fossilized themselves, and the outer shell often provided habitat for oysters and barnacles. Shells containing pearls have also been discovered.

External links

* [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1666%2F0022-3360(2007)81%5B64%3APOGIPO%5D2.0.CO%3B2 Paleoecology of giant Inoceramidae (Platyceramus) on a Santonian (Cretaceous) seafloor in Colorado]
* [http://www.nhm.org/sas/p_platinus.html Natural History Museum: Savage Ancient Seas]
* [http://www.oceansofkansas.com/FieldGuide1.html Invertebrate fossils of Kansas article]