''Megalodon'' is an extinct genus of

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

molluscs Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

that reportedly lived from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

to the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

period. It is not clear, however, that all the fossils assigned to ''Megalodon'' from that span of time really belong in the same genus. Jurassic relatives of ''Megalodon'' such as ''Pachyrisma grande'' were closely related to the

rudists Rudists are a group of extinct box-, tube- or ring-shaped Marine (ocean), marine Heterodonta, heterodont bivalves belonging to the order Hippuritida that arose during the Late Jurassic and became so diverse during the Cretaceous that they were m ...

Species

*†''Megalodon hungaricum'' *†''Megalodon longjiangensis'' *†''Megalodon rostratiforme'' *†''Megalodon yanceyi'' *†''Megalodon abbreviatus''

Distribution

Fossils of the bivalve ''Megalodon'' have been found in: ;Devonian * Austria, Canada (Alberta), Germany, and Italy ;Permian * China and Malaysia ;Triassic * Bulgaria, Colombia, Hungary, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates ;Jurassic * Italy and Morocco

References

Prehistoric bivalve genera Molluscs of Africa Mesozoic Africa Bivalves of Asia Paleozoic Asia Bivalves of Europe Paleozoic Europe Mesozoic Europe Prehistoric bivalves of North America Devonian Canada Molluscs of South America Triassic Colombia Fossil taxa described in 1827 Bivalve taxonomy Fossils of Serbia {{paleo-bivalve-stub