Virginia: Chesapecten jeffersonius (state fossil)

Virginia's state fossil, the scallop Chesapecten jeffersonius, fittingly honors one of the state's most illustrious citizens -- Thomas Jefferson. This mollusc lived in the shallow waters of the continental shelf during the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene Epochs, some 4 - 5 million years ago.

Scallops today are usually found in shallow waters with sandy or muddy bottoms, so it is presumed that Chesapecten inhabited a similar environment. Scallops are unique among bivalved molluscs in having ridges on their shells, which make the shells strong, and in having the ability to swim in spurts by clapping their shells together -- a rudimentary but effective defensive mechanism. Although scallops as a group are common today, Chesapecten itself went extinct around 4 million years ago, possibly due to cooling of the oceans prior to the onset of the Ice Ages.

It has been reported that Native Americans used Chesapecten shells as bowls and scraping tools, and that this was noticed by the first Jamestown settlers. Chesapecten bears the distinction of being the first fossil from North America to be illustrated in a scientific publication, Martin Lister's 1687 Historiae Conchyliorum; however, it was not given a scientific name until 1824. Fabulous finds continue today, including the discovery of millions of Chesapecten shells in the walls of a ditch carved by Hurricane Floyd into a Williamsburg golf course.

Because of its ubiquity, the Virginia General Assembly designated Chesapecten jeffersonius the state fossil in 1993.

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Chesapecten jeffersonius