Platyceramus

Platyceramus Temporal range: Cretaceous
Platyceramus platinus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Pteriida
Family:	†Inoceramidae
Genus:	†Platyceramus Heinz, 1932
Species
Platyceramus cycloides (Wegner, 1905) Platyceramus platinus (Logan, 1898)

Platyceramus was a genus of Cretaceous bivalve molluscs belonging to the extinct inoceramid lineage. It is sometimes classified as a subgenus of Inoceramus.

The largest and best known species is P. platinus. Individuals of this species typically reached 1 m (3 ft 3 in) or more in axial length, but some exceptional specimens 3 m (9 ft 10 in) long have been found,^[1] making it the largest known bivalve. Its huge but very thin shell often provided shelter for schools of small fish, some of which became trapped and fossilised themselves. The outer shell often provided habitat for its own juveniles,^[2] also for oysters such as the epizoic oyster Pseudoperna congesta,^[2] and barnacles.

Shells containing pearls have also been discovered.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Platyceramus.

• Paleoecology of giant Inoceramidae (Platyceramus) on a Santonian (Cretaceous) seafloor in Colorado
• Natural History Museum: Savage Ancient Seas Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Invertebrate fossils of Kansas article

This article about a prehistoric bivalve is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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