Megalodontidae is an extinct family of bivalve

molluscs 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 estim ...

that reportedly lived from the Devonian to the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

period.

Nomenclature

A family of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

was also previously called "Megalodontidae", containing the

sawfly Sawflies are the insects of the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay ...

genus '' Megalodontes''. In order to remove the homonymy, that family has been renamed

Megalodontesidae The Megalodontesidae (until recently spelled Megalodontidae, a name already in use for a family of fossil molluscs) are a small family of sawflies, containing a single living genus, '' Megalodontes'', with some 40 species restricted to the temper ...

Genera

*†'' Conchodon'' *†'' Gemmellarodus'' di Stefano, 1912 *†''

Megalodon Megalodon (''Otodus megalodon''), meaning "big tooth", is an extinct species of mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a membe ...

'' Sowerby, 1827 *†'' Neomegalodon'' Guembel, 1864 *†'' Pachyrisma'' *†'' Protomegalodon'' *†'' Pterocardia'' Bayan, 1874 *†'' Quemocuomegalodon'' Yao et al. 2003 *†'' Rhaetomegalodon'' *†'' Triadomegalodon'' Vegh-Neubrandt, 1974 Paleobiology Database
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References

Bivalve families Prehistoric mollusc families Devonian first appearances Jurassic extinctions Bivalve taxonomy {{paleo-bivalve-stub