Rafinesquina
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| Rafinesquina Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
_(Grant_Lake_Formation,_Upper_Ordovician;_south_of_Excello,_Ohio,_USA)_1_(49710941141).jpg) | |
| Rafinesquina ponderosa from the Excello South Outcrop near the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana tristate area | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Brachiopoda |
| Class: | †Strophomenata |
| Order: | †Strophomenida |
| Family: | †Rafinesquinidae |
| Subfamily: | †Rafinesquininae |
| Genus: | †Rafinesquina Clarke and Hall, 1892 |
| Type species | |
| Leptaena alternata Conrad, 1838 | |
| Species | |
|
See Species | |
Rafinesquina is an extinct genus of large brachiopod that existed from the Darriwilian to the Ludlow epoch.[1]
The genus was named in honor of polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz.[2]
Rafinesquina's members were epifaunal, meaning they lived on top of the seafloor, not buried within it, and were suspension feeders.[3] Rafinesquina normally have a concavo-convex profile, with radiating striae of alternating size which are crossed with finer concentric striae.[3] Their width is usually greater than their length, like most Strophomenids. Members of this genus had shells that grew in increments, with each increment forming a layer of the shell (much like trees do with their rings). In 1982, Gary D. Rosenberg analyzed specimens of Rafinesquina alternata previously inferred to have lived in a shallow subtidal environment and proposed it could be possible to estimate the total number of days in a lunar month (the period between full moons) during the Late Ordovician using layer counting.[4]
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