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Late Paleozoic Pelecypods: Mytilacea

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Generic Status of Some Foreign Species of Mytilacea

The proper generic assignment of various species of the Mytilacea from the literature alone is made especially difficult because many critical characters of the hinge and shell microstructure are unknown for the majority of described species. Consequently, the following classification of the species described in a few of the classical monographs is probably accurate only in part. Some of the genera of Mytilacea are sufficiently distinctive as to be recognizable from external form alone. No pretense of completeness in the following list is made. It has been compiled chiefly to aid paleontologists to an understanding of my classification.

British Carboniferous Mytilacea

The species described by Hind (1896-1905), chiefly from the Lower Carboniferous are classified by me as follows:

MYALINA

Myalina verneuilii

Myalina peralata

SEPTIMYALINA

Myalina redesdalensis

Myalina pernoides

Myalina flemingi

Myalina lamellosa

Myalina sublamellosa

?SELENIMYALINA

Posidoniella elongata

Posidoniella pyriformis

Posidoniella variabilis

PROMYTILUS

Modiola patula

Lithodomus lingualis

Lithodomus lithodomoides

?PROMYTILUS

Modiola megaloba

Modiola transversa

Modiola emaciata

Modiola macadamii

Modiola lata

LITHOPHAGA

Lithodomus carbonarius

Modiola jenkinsi

?NAIADITES

Modiola ligonula

Carboniferous Mytilacea from the Donetz Basin, U. S. S. R.

Fedotov's monograph (1932) on the Donetz Basin pelecypods includes a number of species of Mytilacea. Fedotov unfortunately has employed the names of American species for a large proportion of his pelecypods. His identifications suggest a precise understanding of the characters of American species. Until restudied in the light of modern concepts and techniques a great host of forms described in the early days cannot be understood from the literature alone.

ORTHOMYALINA

Myalina ampla

?SELENIMYALINA

Myalina monroensis

SEPTIMYALINA

Myalina aff. aviculoides

Myalina perattenuata

Myalina verneuilii Myalina sp.

MYALINELLA

Myalina cf. elongata

PROMYTILUS

Myalina swallovi

?VOLSELLINA

Modiola cf. illinoiensis

LITHOPHAGA

Lithophagus cf. batesvillensis

Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian, North China

Chao's report (1927) on the Taiyuan formation includes two species. I would classify them as follows:

PROMYTILUS

Myalina swallowi (pl. 1, figs. 29, 30)

?SEPTIMYALINA

Myalina swallowi (pl. 1, fig. 31)

Upper Carboniferous, U. S. S. R.

Stuckenberg (1898, 1905) has described the following Mytilacea:

PROMYTILUS

Modiola gigantea

?VOLSELLINA

Sanguinolites sp.

Permian, Salt Range, India

Waagen's (1881) report on the Permian pelecypods of the Salt Range includes the following:

LITHODOMINA

Lithodomina typica

Lithodomina abbreviata

ATOMODESMA

Atomodesma indicum

LIEBEA

Liebea hausmanni

Liebea indica

LITHOPHAGA

Lithodomus atavus

VOLSELLINA

Modiola transparens

?MYALINELLA

Mytilus patriarchalis

?SELENIMYALINA

Septifer squama


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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web Dec. 18, 2017; originally published 1942.
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