Teredina
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| Teredina Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Myida |
| Family: | Teredinidae |
| Genus: | †Teredina Lamarck, 1818 |
| Species[1] | |
| |
Teredina is an extinct genus of fossil bivalve mollusc that lived from the Late Cretaceous to the late Pliocene in Asia, Europe, and North America.[2]
Teredina shells consist of 2 short, hooked valves with a pair of furrows and each valve with transverse ridges.[3] The overall body was long and clud-shaped. Teredina used the ridges on each valve to bore into driftwood by rocking back and forth; its long body shape allowed for large intestines for it to carry bacteria capable of breaking down the cellulose in the wood.[3] Petrified drift wood with Teridina burrows can be found in the Cretaceous rocks of Vancouver Island.[3]