Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Plicatula mullicaensis Pelecypod from the Corsicana formation

Here is an interesting Pelecypod from the Cretaceous sediments of Texas. It's Plicatula mullicaensis and the small shell has remnants of spines that coat the shell surface.  It comes from the Corsicana Fm. in Bexar County, Texas and is around 68 million years old which places it in the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

The shell is roughly oval in shape and relatively flat. Although the flatness could be due to the shell being compressed during/after fossilization. Plicatula mullicaensis is considered an oyster although it does not look like the ones we see on our plates today. The genus is extant in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico but they look different than this fossil does and they are call "Cat's Paws".

Right valve

Left valve

I took these pictures a few years ago and I can't really remember which angle of the shell they are showing. The first picture is of the anterior I believe but the other shots may just be profile views. The shell is so flat it's hard to tell!



I purchased this fossil from a collector in Texas.

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