Isognomon

(For the tree oyster mushroom, see Pleurotus ostreatus.)

Isognomon
Temporal range: Permian - Recent
Live Isognomon sp. under a rock in Kona District, Hawaii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pterioida
Family: Pteriidae
Genus: Isognomon
Lightfoot, 1786
Type species
Ostrea perna Linnaeus, 1767
species

See text.

Synonyms
  • Isognoma Lightfoot, 1786 (Isognoma is an alternative original spelling for Isognomon)
  • Isognomon (Anisoperna) Iredale, 1939
  • Isognomon (Isognomon) Lightfoot, 1786
  • Isognomon (Melina) Philipsson, 1788
  • Isogonum Röding, 1798
  • Malleoperna Iredale, 1939
  • Melina Philipsson, 1788
  • Parviperna Iredale, 1939
  • Pedalion Dillwyn, 1817
  • Perna Bruguière, 1789
  • Pernaria Rafinesque, 1815
  • Sutura Megerle von Mühlfeld, 1811

Isognomon is a genus of marine bivalve mollusks which is related to the pearl oysters.[1]

Isognomon is known in the fossil record from the Permian period to the Quaternary period (age range: 254.0 to 0.012 millions years ago). Fossils of species within this genus have been found all over the world. [2]

Taxonomy

This genus was formerly placed in the family Isognomonidae, however molecular phylogeny studies have shown that these tree oysters belong in the family Pteriidae.[3]

Description

These oysters grow to be about 4.75 inches (12.1 cm) in overall length, producing a highly irregular shell with a blue-gray and often heavily encrusted exterior but a smooth and pearly white interior. They use their byssus to completely immobilize themselves to the roots of mangrove trees, corals, and other substrates.[4] It is because of the preference for mangroves that these are sometimes called tree oysters[5]

Species

Extinct species

Fossil of Isognomon maxillatus from Pliocene of Italy

Extinct species within this genus include: [2]

Species brought into synonymy

References

  1. Isognomon Lightfoot, 1786.  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 12 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 Fossilworks
  3. Temkin, I. (2010) Molecular phylogeny of pearl oysters and their relatives (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Pterioidea), BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:342
  4. Arthur Peter Hoblyn Oliver (2004). Guide to Seashells of the World. Firefly. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-55297-943-3.
  5. Papuaweb


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