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The neotype of Crassostrea gigantissima (Finch, 1824)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

David R. Lawrence
David R. Lawrence*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208
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Extract

In 1824 the British naturalist John Finch described (p. 40) a large fossil oyster from Shell Bluff, Burke County, Georgia, as Ostrea Gigantissima. Ten years later, T. A. Conrad (1834, p. 156-157) described this same taxon as Ostrea georgiana. For many years the oyster was most commonly identified using Conrad's name, but Howe (1937) clearly pointed out the priority and synonymy involved. More recently, the species has been assigned to the genus Crassostrea Sacco, 1897, and recognized (e.g., Sohl and Kauffman, 1964) as Crassostrea gigantissima (Finch). This Cenozoic taxon has special significance (Sohl and Kauffman, 1964) because it is most certainly the direct ancestor of C. virginica (Gmelin, 1791), the type species for Crassostrea.

Type
Taxonomic Notes
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , March 1991 , pp. 342 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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