Pleuromeris murdochi
| Pleuromeris murdochi Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Carditida |
| Family: | Carditidae |
| Genus: | Pleuromeris |
| Species: | †P. murdochi
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Pleuromeris murdochi A. W. B. Powell, 1938
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Pleuromeris murdochi is an extinct species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Carditidae.[2] Fossils of the species date to the Pleistocene in New Zealand.
Description
In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:
Shell small, narrowly ovate, inequilateral; beaks prominent, curved forwards, and situated at about the anterior third of the diameter. Sculptured with fifteen broadly rounded radial ribs with linear interspaces. The concentric growth lines do not cut the radials into beads; they are practically smooth. Hinge as in the Recent marshalli Marwick 1924, to which the species is probably ancestral.[3]
The holotype of the species has a height of 5.75 mm (0.226 in), length of 5.1 mm (0.20 in) and a single valve thickness of 1.75 mm (0.069 in).[3] It can be differentiated from P. marshalli due to having more numerous radial ribs, and interspaces that are narrower and almost linear.[3]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by A.W.B. Powell in 1938.[3] In 2017, Damián E. Pérez and Claudia J. del Río recombined the species as Kolmeris murdochi,[1] a change currently not accepted by the World Register of Marine Species.[2] The holotype was collected at a date prior to 1939 by A. W. B. Powell, from lighthouse reef, Castlepoint, Wairarapa, New Zealand, and is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum.[4][5]
Distribution
This extinct marine species occurs in Pleistocene (Nukumaruan stage) strata of New Zealand, dating to 2.40 million years before the present.[6]
References
- ^ a b Pérez, Damián E.; del Río, Claudia J. (24 October 2017). "Systematics of the family Carditidae (Bivalvia: Archiheterodonta) in the Cenozoic of Argentina". Zootaxa. 4338 (1): 51–84. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.4338.1.3. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 29245727. Wikidata Q46239007.
- ^ a b Pleuromeris murdochi A. W. B. Powell, 1938 †. 5 March 2026. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
- ^ a b c d Powell, A. W. B. (1938). "A Pliocene Molluscan Faunule from Castle Point". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 2: 157–164. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42905977. Wikidata Q58676603. This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- ^ Blom, Wilma M. (2025). "Annotated Catalogue of Fossil and Extant Molluscan Types in the Auckland War Memorial Museum". Bulletin of the Auckland Museum. 22. doi:10.32912/BULLETIN/22. ISSN 1176-3213. OCLC 1550165130. Wikidata Q135397912.
- ^ "Pleuromeris murdochi". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
- ^ Maxwell, P.A. (2009). "Cenozoic Mollusca". In Gordon, D.P. (ed.). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-1-877257-72-8.