{{Short description|Extinct genus of bivalves}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Caradoc {{Fossil range|460.9|449.7}} | display_parents = 2 | genus = Emiliodonta | parent_authority = Sánchez, 2010 | species = cuerdai | authority = (Sánchez, 1999) | synonyms = *''Emiliania'' <small>Sánchez, 1999</small> }}
'''''Emiliodonta''''' is an extinct genus of bivalve in the extinct family Praenuculidae. The genus is one of three genera in the subfamily Concavodontinae. ''Emiliodonta'' is known solely from late Ordovician, Caradocian epoch, fossils found in South America. The genus contains a single accepted species, '''''Emiliodonta cuerdai'''''.<ref name="Sánchez1999">{{cite journal |last1=Sánchez |first1=T.M. |year=1999 |title=New Late Ordovician (Early Caradoc) Bivalves from the Sierra de Villicum (Argentine Precordillera) |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=66–76 |doi=10.1017/S0022336000027554 |jstor=1306745|bibcode=1999JPal...73...66S |s2cid=133414164 }}</ref><ref name="Sánchez2010">{{cite journal |last1=Sánchez |first1=T.M. |year=2010 |title=''Emiliodonta'', New Name for ''Emiliania'' Sánchez, 1999, Not ''Emiliania'' Hay and Mohlen, 1967 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=781 |doi=10.1666/10-023.1 |bibcode=2010JPal...84..781S |s2cid=84229307 |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1666/10-023.1|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Description== ''Emiliodonta cuerdai'' is a bivalve first described in 1999 by Teresa M. Sánchez from fossils from sediments of the late Middle Ordovician, Caradocian-aged Don Braulio Formation. The formation outcrops on the flank of Sierra de Villicum in the Argentina precordillera.<ref name="Sánchez1999"/><ref name="TPBDB">[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/displayCollResults?collection_no=13513 The Paleobiology database "Sierra de Villicum" entry] accessed 17 January 2012</ref> Generally the shells of ''Emiliodonta cuerdai'' are rounded and distinctly inflated. The shells have an umbo positioned on the anterior edge of the shell prosogyratly,<!--this needs a disambiguating phrase for the general reader: delete this notice--> with the beak curving towards the anterior side. The shell hinges have a series of twelve to fourteen concavodont<!--this needs a disambiguating phrase for the general reader: delete this notice--> teeth along the posterior edge and a series of five larger concavodont teeth on the anterior edge. The two series meet at the umbo with a group of four to five orthomorphic<!--this needs a disambiguating phrase for the general reader: delete this notice--> teeth. ''Emiliodonta'' ranges in shell length from {{convert|4.0|to|6.7|mm|in}} and has a height between {{convert|4.0|and|5.5|mm|in}}.<ref name="Sánchez1999"/> As a member of Concavodontinae, the hinge displays the chevroning of teeth typical of the subfamily. The teeth have a concavity in the chevron, which faces away from the center of the hinge and the umbo.
When first described, the genus name ''Emiliania'' was chosen by Sánchez in reference to her father Emiliano Sánchez.<ref name="Sánchez1999"/> However the genus name ''Emiliania'' is a homonym already used by W.W. Hay & H.P. Mohler in 1967 for a genus of coccolithophore. In a 2010 paper, Sánchez moved the species to the generic ''Emiliodonta'' name.<ref name="Sánchez2010"/> The species epithet ''cuerdai'' was coined in honor of C. Cuerda, a professor at the Universidad de La Plata and friend of Teresa M. Sánchez.<ref name="Sánchez1999"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5371979}}
Category:Praenuculidae Category:Monotypic prehistoric bivalve genera Category:Ordovician bivalves Category:Fossil taxa described in 2010