Monopleura

Monopleura is a genus^[3] of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Monopleuridae. These fossils have been dated back to the Cretaceous Period (145.5 million to 66 million years ago).

Monopleura Temporal range: Cretaceous PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	†Hippuritida
Family:	†Monopleuridae
Genus:	†Monopleura Matheron, 1842[1]
Type species
†Monopleura varians Matheron, 1842 (type by subsequent designation)
Species[2]
†Monopleura aliena (Počta, 1889) †Monopleura cumulus Počta, 1889 †Monopleura michaillensis Pictet & Campiche, 1868 †Monopleura taurica Pchelintsev, 1959

These bivalves are known as pachyodonts.

Description

The thick triangular shell in this genus is capped by a smaller dome-shaped shell. Some of the pachyodonts possessed open passageways through the shell that allowed for fluids to pass. These pachyodont bivalves were habitually sedentary and grew upright with the pointed end anchored in the substrate.^[4]