Conchifera
Encyclopedia
Conchifera is a taxonomic term. It is a subphylum
of the phylum Mollusca
. It comprises all of the shell-bearing class
es of molluscs, including the snails, clams, tusk shells, chitons, ammonites, monoplacophorans, and so on.
This taxonomic term is used mostly by paleontologists, and not by scientists who study the living mollusca
.
Subphylum
In life, a subphylum is a taxonomic rank intermediate between phylum and superclass. The rank of subdivision in plants and fungi is equivalent to subphylum.Not all phyla are divided into subphyla...
of the phylum Mollusca
Mollusca
The Mollusca , common name molluscs or mollusksSpelled mollusks in the USA, see reasons given in Rosenberg's ; for the spelling mollusc see the reasons given by , is a large phylum of invertebrate animals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. Mollusca is the largest...
. It comprises all of the shell-bearing class
Class (biology)
In biological classification, class is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order...
es of molluscs, including the snails, clams, tusk shells, chitons, ammonites, monoplacophorans, and so on.
This taxonomic term is used mostly by paleontologists, and not by scientists who study the living mollusca
Mollusca
The Mollusca , common name molluscs or mollusksSpelled mollusks in the USA, see reasons given in Rosenberg's ; for the spelling mollusc see the reasons given by , is a large phylum of invertebrate animals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. Mollusca is the largest...
.
Classes
Classes within the Conchifera include:- GastropodaGastropodaThe Gastropoda or gastropods, more commonly known as snails and slugs, are a large taxonomic class within the phylum Mollusca. The class Gastropoda includes snails and slugs of all kinds and all sizes from microscopic to quite large...
- Scaphopoda
- Cephalopoda
- BivalviaBivalviaBivalvia is a taxonomic class of marine and freshwater molluscs. This class includes clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and many other families of molluscs that have two hinged shells...
- MonoplacophoraMonoplacophoraMonoplacophora, meaning "bearing one plate", is a polyphyletic class of mollusks with a cap-like shell, living on the bottom of deep sea. Extant representatives were unknown until 1952; previously they were known only from the fossil record.- Definition :...
- RostroconchiaRostroconchiaThe Rostroconchia is a class of extinct molluscs dating from the early Cambrian to the late Permian. They were initially thought to be bivalves, but were later given their own class. They have a single shell in their larval stage, and the adult typically has a single, pseudo-bivalved shell...
† - HelcionelloidaHelcionelloidaHelcionelloida is the name given to an extinct group of ancient molluscs . These are the oldest known conchiferan molluscs, that is, they had a mineralised shell. Some members of this class were mistaken for Monoplacophorans. The class was erected by Peel in 1991.-Anatomy:These animals were...
†