Glossus Poli 1795

Glossus is a genus of mostly extinct marine bivalve molluscs in the family Glossidae. Only the oxheart clam, G. humanus, is still extant, living in flat, muddy regions deep off the North Atlantic coastline of Europe.

Fossil records

All species of this genus, including the remaining extant species, G. humanus, are found in the fossil record from the Cretaceous to the Pliocene (age range: from 99.7 to 2.588 million years ago). Fossils are found in the marine strata of Eastern North America, Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific.^[2]

Fossil shell of Glossus humanus from Pliocene of Italy

Species

The following species and synonmised taxa are (or have been) classified under Glossus:^[1][2][3]

• Glossus bronni
• Glossus conradi Gabb, 1860 (=Isocarida conradi)
• †Glossus fraterna Say, 1824
• Glossus harpa
• Glossus humanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Glossus cyprinoides
• Glossus lamarckii
• Glossus lunulatus
• †Glossus markoei Conrad, 1842
• †Glossus marylandica Schoonover, 1941
• †Glossus mazlea Glenn, 1904
• Glossus moltkiana
• Glossus sanguineomaculata
• †Glossus santamaria Ward, 1992
• Glossus subtransversus
• Glossus vulgaris Reeve, 1845

Synonyms

• Glossus rubicundus Poli, 1795 accepted as Glossus humanus Linnaeus, 1758
• Glossus hibernicus Reeve, 1845 is a regional variant of Glossus humanus Linnaeus, 1758^[4]

Bibliography

• G. Owen - On The Biology Of Glossus Humanus (L.) (Isocardia Cor Lam.) Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Huber M. (2010) Compendium of bivalves. A full-color guide to 3,300 of the world's marine bivalves. A status on Bivalvia after 250 years of research. Hackenheim: ConchBooks. 901 pp., 1
• Guido Poppe und Yoshihiro Goto: European Seashells Volume 2 (Scaphopoda, Bivalvia, Cephalopoda). 221 S., Verlag Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden 1993 (2000 unv. Nachdruck) ISBN 3-925919-10-4

References