Terebratalia transversa: the transverse lamp shell– The Race Rocks Taxonomy

The only time we have seen one of these was in 1999 when several grab samples were taken by researchers using a dredge in water over 30 metre depth.

Lampshells belong to the  Brachiopods. They resemble bivalves but are unrelated . A good example of convergent evolution. Lampshells appear commonly in the fossil record ,  and although, both bivalves and lampshells have two shells, however they are not related. Bivalves have shells that are symmetrical mirror images of each other, whereas with lamphells, the two shells and the internal structures are very different.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class  Brachiopoda
Order
Family
Genus Terebratalia
Species transversa
Common Name: Transverse lamp shell
This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, faculty, volunteers, researchers and staff  of
Lester B. Pearson College
 2006 Garry Fletcher