Pratulum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pratulum Temporal range: Eocene to Recent
Pratulum pulchellum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Subclass:	Heterodonta
Order:	Cardiida
Family:	Cardiidae
Genus:	Pratulum Iredale, 1924
Species
See text

Pratulum is a special group of sea animals known as bivalves. They are a type of mollusc, which means they have soft bodies, but these ones are protected by two hard shells. Think of them like clams or oysters! They live in the ocean and are part of the family called Cardiidae, which includes many kinds of cockles.

What are Bivalves?

Bivalves are amazing sea creatures that have two shells hinged together. The word "bivalve" actually means "two shells"! These shells protect their soft bodies inside. They can open and close their shells to move around or to stay safe from predators. Many bivalves, like Pratulum, live on or in the sandy or muddy seafloor.

How Bivalves Live

Most bivalves are filter feeders. This means they eat tiny bits of food floating in the water. They suck water in through one opening, filter out the food particles, and then push the clean water out through another opening. It's like having a built-in vacuum cleaner for their meals! This helps keep the ocean water clean.

Where Do Pratulum Live?

The Pratulum bivalves are quite special because they are endemic to certain places. This means they are only found naturally in those specific areas and nowhere else in the world! For Pratulum, these special places are Australia and New Zealand. They live in the marine waters around these countries, often on the seabed.

Types of Pratulum Species

The Pratulum group includes several different species, some of which are still alive today, and some that are only known from fossils. When you see a little dagger symbol (†) next to a species name, it means that species is extinct, so it no longer lives on Earth. Scientists learn about these extinct species by studying their fossils.

Here are some of the species that belong to the Pratulum genus:

• Pratulum catinus (P. A. Maxwell, 1992) †
• Pratulum finlayi (Bartrum & Powell, 1928) †
• Pratulum marwicki (Beu & P. A. Maxwell, 1990) †
• Pratulum modicum (Marwick, 1944) †
• Pratulum occidentale Poutiers, 2017
• Pratulum pulchellum (Gray, 1843)
• Pratulum quinarium (Marwick, 1944) †
• Pratulum semitectum (Marwick, 1926) †
• Pratulum thetidis (Hedley, 1902)

What is a Fossil?

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of ancient life. They can be bones, shells, leaves, or even footprints that have turned into rock over millions of years. For Pratulum, their shells are often found as fossils. These fossils help scientists understand what these creatures looked like, where they lived, and how they changed over very long periods of time. The fossils of Pratulum show that this group of bivalves has been around since the Eocene epoch, which was about 56 to 33.9 million years ago!