Ostrea
This genus is very ancient. It is known in the fossil records from the Permian to the Quaternary (age range: from 259 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossil shells of these molluscs can be found all over the world. Genus Ostrea includes about 150 extinct species.[1][2]
At least one species within this genus, Ostrea lurida, has been recovered in archaeological excavations along the Central California coast of the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating it was a marine taxon exploited by the Native American Chumash people as a food source.[3]
