''Lopha'' is a genus of
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
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* ...
bivalve
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s in the family
Ostreidae.
The genus ''Lopha'' is present from the
Triassic period in the Lower
Norian
The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian.
Stratigraphic defi ...
age (216.5 ± 2.0 – 203.6 ± 1.5 Mya) to the recent age.
Description
''Lopha'' species have thick, strongly ribbed shells with unequal valves. The margins of the valves have a characteristic zig-zag pattern. The lower valve shows finger-like outgrowths, by which the molluscs adhere to the substrate. These molluscs are stationary, epifaunal, suspension feeders, as they feed by filtering sea water to extract the nutrients.
Species
* ''
Lopha affinis''
Sowerby, 1871
* ''
Lopha capsa''
Fischer von Waldheim, 1808
* ''
Lopha chemnitzii''
Hanley, 1846
* ''
Lopha cristagalli''
C. Linnaeus, 1758
* ''
Lopha frons''
C. Linnaeus, 1758
* ''
Lopha imbricata''
J. B. Lamarck, 1819
* ''
Lopha rosacea''
G. P. Deshayes, 1836
Fossil species
*''
Lopha gregarea'',
Oxfordian (stage)
The Oxfordian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the earliest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch, or the lowest stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 163.5 ± 1.0 Ma and 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago). The Oxfordian ...
(160 mya)
*''
Lopha marshii'' (Sowerby, 1914),
Bajocian (170 mya)
Gallery
File:Lopha cristagalli.jpg, ''Lopha cristagalli''
File:Lopha colubrina.JPG, ''Lopha colubrina'' in Naturalis, Leiden
References
BiolibWoRMSPaleobiology Database
*Sepkoski, Jac
Sepkoski's Online Genus Database
Ostreidae
Bivalve genera
Extant Triassic first appearances
{{bivalve-stub