The Inoceramidae are an extinct family of bivalves ("clams") in the class Mollusca. Fossils of inoceramids are found in marine sediments of Permian to latest Cretaceous in age. Inoceramids tended to live in upper bathyal and neritic environments. Many species of inoceramid are found all over the world, demonstrating the wide distribution of their preferred ecosystems, and possibly long-lived planktotrophic larvae.Lower Turonian Euramerican Inoceramidae: A morphologic, taxonomic, and biostratigraphic overview. A report from the first Workshop on Early Turonian Inoceramids (October 5–8, 1992) in Hamburg, Germany; organized by Heinz Hilbrecht and Peter J. Harries Despite their wide distribution, the pace of evolution of inoceramids was great, with species ranges commonly averaging 0.2–0.5 Ma.
Size
Various species of inoceramids have achieved shell sizes ranging from small to large. Members of the Inoceramus and Cladoceramus genera have shells of more than in length. In 1952, a huge specimen of Inoceramus steenstrupi long, was found in Qilakitsoq, the Nuussuaq Peninsula, Greenland. This fossil is 83 Ma old, the Upper Santonian or Lower Campanian stage. Specimens referred to Antarcticeramus are also gigantic, some around 1.8 m and shell thicknesses of 3 cm.
Taxonomy Inoceramidae Giebel, 1852 Genus Actinoceramus Meek, 1864 (Synonym = Birostrina De Luc & Sowerby, 1821) Genus Anopaea Eichwald, 1861 Genus Antarcticeramus Crame & Luther, 1997 Genus Arctomytiloides Polubotko, 1992 Genus Cataceramus Cox, 1969 Genus Cladoceramus Seitz, 1961 Genus Cremnoceramus Heinz, 1932 Genus Endocostea Whitfield, 1877 Genus Inoceramus Sowerby, 1814 Subgenus Inoceramus (Cordiceramus) (Heinz, 1932) Subgenus Inoceramus (Inoceramus) Sowerby, 1814 Subgenus Inoceramus (Sphenoceramus) (Böhm, 1915) Genus Magadiceramus Heinz, 1932 Genus Mytiloides Brongniart, 1822 Genus Neocomiceramus Pokhialainen, 1972 Genus Neoinoceramus Ihering, 1902 Genus Parainoceramus Voronetz, 1936 Genus Platyceramus Heinz, 1932 Genus Pseudomytiloides Koschelkina, 1963 Genus Retroceramus Koschelkina, 1958 Genus Spyridoceramus Cox, 1969 Genus Tethyoceramus Sornay, 1980 Genus Trochoceramus Heinz, 1932 Genus Volviceramus Stoliczka, 1871
Footnotes
Further reading