Texigryphaea
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| Texigryphaea | |
|---|---|
_(Walnut_Formation,_Lower_Cretaceous;_Bell_County,_Texas,_USA)_3.jpg) | |
| Texigryphaea mucronata from the Walnut Formation, Lower Cretaceous of Bell County, Texas | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Bivalvia |
| Order: | Ostreida |
| Family: | Gryphaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Pycnodonteinae |
| Genus: | †Texigryphaea Stenzel, 1959 |
| Species[1][2] | |
|
About 11 species, see text | |
Texigryphaea is an extinct genus of oyster belonging to the order Ostreida and family Gryphaeidae.[3] It dates to the Albian to Cenomanian Ages of the Cretaceous period and is primarily found in Texas and the southern Western Interior of North America.[1] However, specimens have been identified from northern Spain.[4]
The genus were free-living benthic oysters that were often the dominant species in late Albian biomes of the Western Interior Seaway.[1] Some limestone beds of the Muleros Formation near El Paso, Texas, consist almost entirely of fossil fragments of T. washitaensis.[2] Most species preferred soft substrates in quiet environments, but T. navia was adapted to firmer substrates in more energetic environments.[1] The genus differs from Jurassic Gryphaeidae in possessing a vesicular shell structure and chomata (a fine set of parallel ribs found on the inner valves).[4]
T. tucumcarii is considered to be a synonym for T. pitcheri.[1]
