Plicatulidae Explained

The Plicatulidae are a family of saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks, known commonly as kitten's paws or kittenpaws.^[1] These bivalves are related to oysters and scallops. The family has a single living genus, Plicatula, with a second, Harpax known from fossils.

Description

Plicatulidae are small, with weakly convex shells which are irregularly oval or even almost triangular. Typically, they attach themselves to a hard surface by the right valve. The ligament is internal and triangular.

Life cycle

Plicatulidae members start off in the larval stage.

Genera and species

Harpax Parkinson, 1811
Plicatula Lamarck, 1801
† Pseudoplacunopsis Bittner, 1895
Plicastulostrea onca

synonym of Plicatula australis Lamarck, 1819 (type by original designation); a species from Thailand

Synonyms:

Plicatulostrea Simone & Amaral, 2008: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801
Spiniplicata [sic]: synonym of Spiniplicatula Habe, 1977: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801 (misspelling)
Spiniplicatula Habe, 1977: synonym of Plicatula Lamarck, 1801

References

Vaught, K.C.; Tucker Abbott, R.; Boss, K.J. (1989). A classification of the living Mollusca. American Malacologists: Melbourne. ISBN 0-915826-22-4. XII, 195 pp
Bieler, R.; Carter, J. G.; Coan, E. V. (2010). Classification of Bivalve families. Pp. 113-133, in: Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (2010), Nomenclator of Bivalve Families. Malacologia. 52(2): 1-184
Coan, E. V.; Valentich-Scott, P. (2012). Bivalve seashells of tropical West America. Marine bivalve mollusks from Baja California to northern Peru. 2 vols, 1258 pp.

External links

Web site: Plicatulostrea a new genus of Plicatulidae .

Notes and References

Abbott, R.T. & Morris, P.A. A Field Guide to Shells: Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. 34.