Gigantopecten

Gigantopecten is a genus of fossil scallops, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.^[2]

Gigantopecten Temporal range: Oligocene to Quaternary
Gigantopecten latissimus from France. Miocene (abt. 20 Ma)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Pectinida
Family:	Pectinidae
Genus:	†Gigantopecten Rovereto, 1899
Synonyms
Grandipecten Cossmann, 1914 Macrochlamys Sacco in Bellardi & Sacco, 1897 [1]

These facultatively mobile low-level epifaunal suspension feeders lived from the Oligocene to the Quaternary period (from 33.9 to 0.781 Ma).^[3]

Species

Species within the genus Gigantopecten include:^[3][4]

• Gigantopecten latissimus (Brocchi, 1814)
• Gigantopecten nodosiformis (Pusch, 1837)
• Gigantopecten pittieri Dall 1912
• Gigantopecten gigas^[5] (Schlotheim, 1813)

Description

Species within this genus have a very large shells, reaching a height of about 134 millimetres (5.3 in) and a length of about 167 millimetres (6.6 in). The shell is thick and biconvex. The left valve is slightly more convex than the right one. The radial ribs are wide, but very shallow. Both auricles are the same size and shape.^[6]

Distribution

Fossils of species within this genus have been found in the sediments of the United States, Italy, Algeria, Austria, Cuba, France, Haiti, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Iran.^[3]