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Description: | Specimen of a fossil bivalve, Monotis decussata, collected from the Westbury Beds (?) of Late Triassic, Rhaetic age from Westbury-on-Severn (river section), Gloucestershire (SW England). Collected by the Rev. P. Brodie.
The surface of this piece of rock is covered with the very small shells of Monotis decussata, a shellfish that was common during the late Triassic. Monotis has a thin shell. Recent research suggests that it was a planktonic or pseudo-planktonic animal, meaning that it spent its life floating in the water, rather than living on or burrowing in the seabed. If Monotis was planktonic, the reason for so many of these tiny shells being grouped together like this is that they were swept together by currents after death.
The specimen was found in SW England.
It is from the Triassic period (248 - 206 million years ago) | Publisher: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Subjects: | Classification: Animalia Brodie Invertebrata Bivalvia Mollusca Rev P.B. | Temporal: | Triassic period (248 - 206 million years ago) | Source: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Identifier: | http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/geofinder/se... | Go to resource |
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