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Larval to adult growth stages and paleoenvironment of Odontogryphaea thirsae (Gabb, 1861): a late Paleocene oyster from the northern Gulf Coastal Plain, U.S.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Lloyd N. Glawe ,
Dennis E. Bell ,
David T. Dockery Iii  and
John F. Anderson
Lloyd N. Glawe
Affiliation:
1Natural History Museum, University of Louisiana at Monroe, LA 71209-0504, USA,
Dennis E. Bell
Affiliation:
1Natural History Museum, University of Louisiana at Monroe, LA 71209-0504, USA, 2Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Monroe, LA 71209-0520, USA,
David T. Dockery Iii
Affiliation:
3Mississippi Office of Geology, Jackson, MS 39225, USA,
John F. Anderson
Affiliation:
4Dept. of Mathematics and Physics, University of Louisiana at Monroe, LA 71209-0575, USA,
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Abstract

Assemblages of the boat-shaped bivalve Odontogryphaea thirsae (Gabb, 1861) from southwestern Alabama are used to define three ontogenetic growth stages that are bounded by major discontinuities in either mineral structure or growth-line prominence. Features of the larval and juvenile stages are described here for the first time and are compared with the well-known morphologic features that distinguish adults (late dissoconchs).

The larval stage is represented by prodissoconch valves which are about 0.4 mm in height with suborbicular outlines, commarginal striations, and ridge-like, opisthogyral beaks. The juvenile (early dissoconch) stage is expressed by dissoconch valves up to 19 mm in height with elliptical outlines (height > length), indistinct commarginal growth lines, flat commissural planes, and tiny attachment areas on left valves; the valve interiors exhibit a posterior adductor muscle scar, a resilifer, and chomata. The adult (late dissoconch) stage is characterized by dissoconch valves >19 mm in height with subtriangular outlines, prominent commarginal growth lines, wavy commissural planes, and a keel-like terebratuloid fold.

Paleonvironmental and stratigraphic studies of the diversely fossiliferous Odontogryphaea thirsae beds indicate 0. thirsae (Gabb, 1861) thrived in a shallow, normal-marine, tropical sea that extended from Texas to Georgia about 57 million years ago.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 5 , September 2011 , pp. 977 - 986
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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