« Shell equivalve or almost equivalve, most often solid, of variable subcircular or subtrigone to oval outline, inequilateral. Hooks prosogyrous, protruding, located anteriorly. Lunula and/or escutcheon well developed. External sculpture basically formed of concentric streaks, ribs or lamellae to which radiating elements are sometimes superimposed. Ligament external, often deeply sunken. Hinge generally well developed, always with three simple or bifid cardinal teeth at each valve; anterior lateral teeth may be present. Two adductor scars of the valves, normally not very uneven… » (fao.org).
Antigona Schumacher, 1817:
« Four cardinal teeth in the left valve: the two posterior are lamellose, half-moon-shaped, transverse; lunulal tooth small. In the right valve, three cardinal: the posterior lamellose, half-moon-shaped, transverse; the lunulal tooth smooth and close. » – C. F. Schumacher: Essai d’un nouveau système des habitations des vers testacés, Copenhagen 1817, p.51.
Callista Poli, 1791:
One of the largest Venerids. Synonym Lepidocardia Dall, who writes: « Shell […] smooth or concentrically striated, polished; lunule defined, but there is no defined escutcheon; internal margins smooth; pallial sinus linguiform, pointed in front, horizontally directed, partly confluent with the pallial line below; dorsal margins beyond the hinge plate grooved; teeth delicate, the anterior laterals well developed, the posterior right and anterior two left cardinals more or less distinctly grooved. » – W. H. Dall: “Synopsis of the family Veneridae and of the North American Recent species”, Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum vol.XXVI, Washington 1903, p.356.
Chamelea Mörch, 1853:
Shell medium-sized, solid, subtriangular, equivalve, inequilateral, with a rounded pallial margin; anterior region rounder and placed higher than the posterior; sculpture of numerous commarginal folds or plicae. « Hinge of the right valve provided with three divergent cardinal teeth: the anterior compressed laterally, the median stronger and subtriangular; the posterior elongated and roughly parallel to the dorsal edge. In this valve, the outer layer of the test overflows on the cardinal plateau, along the dorsal edge, in a kind of strip in which fits the corresponding part of the left valve, when the shell is closed. Hinge of the left valve provided with two short, divergent cardinal teeth and a third very narrow and lamellar cardinal tooth which runs along the dorsal edge. » – Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus: Les mollusques marins du Roussillon vol.II, Paris 1893, p.361, about Ch. gallina (the authors consider gallina and striatula as the same species).
Circenita Jousseaume, 1888:
Shell medium-sized, subovate; valves moderately convex, with a sculpture exclusively commarginal, covering the entire surface; lunule smooth. « Escutcheon not defined, and ligament exposed. Cardinal teeth small, near together, and entire; the anterior laterals comparatively large. Ventral margins always smooth. Pallial line slightly sinuated. » – A. J. Jukes-Browne: “A synopsis of the Family Veneridae. Part i”, Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London vol. 11, London 1914, p.85.
Clausinella Gray, 1851:
Shell small to medium-sized. In the List of the specimens of British animals in the collection of the British Museum vol.VII, London 1851, E. Gray proposes the generic name Clausinella for the Chione fasciata, but does not give a description. A good one, however, unfortunately devoid of any comment about the inside, was writen later by Dautzenberg & Fischer: « Shell very thick and heavy, subtrigone, equivalve, inequilateral. Anterior region shorter than the posterior. Vertices contiguous, curved anteriorly. […] The valves are decorated with very strong, broad […] beads, […]Internal edges of valves finely crenellated. » – Dautzenberg & Fischer: Mollusques provenant des dragages effectués à l’ouest de l’Afrique pendant les campagnes scientifiques de S.A.S. le Prince de Monaco fasc.32, Monaco 1906, p.87, about Cl. punctigera.
Dosinia Scopoli, 1777:
Shell medium-sized to large, circular, solid, little compressed; lunule much impressed, escutcheon thin and ill-defined; sculpture made up of concentric ribs and, in some species, flattened bead. Margins smooth; adductor muscle scars small; pallial sinus narrow, often well defined, « extending more than halfway across » (Iredale 1929, about Pardosinia).
Gafrarium Röding, 1798:
« Daß Waffeleisen » (P. F. Röding: Museum Boltenianum, Hamburg 1798, p.176, Lade 22). Shell medium-sized, equivalve, strongly inequilateral, « thick, sub-orbiculate, scarcely gibbous, slightly quadrate, […] radiately ribbed, ribs irregular, coarsely nodosely granular; ribs often divided towards the margin, anteriorly and posteriorly divaricately and bifurcately plicate; umbones acute, slightly curved; lunule widely ovate, […] margins thickened […] teeth thick, conspicuous. » – J. E. Tenison Woods: Circe pythinoides in “On some new marine Mollusca”, Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria vol.XIV, Melbourne 1878, p.61.
Globivenus Coen, 1934:
Shell medium-sized to large, orbicular, solid, heavy, close to those of Venus but more tumid; sculpture made of commarginal striae and beads crossed by weak and thin radials; lunule heart-shaped, deep, evenly striated; inner margins finely crenulate.
Gouldia C. B. Adams, 1847:
Shell small, orbicular, equivalve, almost equilateral, generally smooth with very thin commarginal striae. Synonym Thetys C. B. Adams, who writes: « Close to Astarte, but one tooth is set aside anteriorly in both valves; pallial impression hardly or not sinuous at all. » – C. B. Adams: “Specierum novarum conchyliorum, in Jamaica repertorum, synopsis”, Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History vol.II, Boston 1848 (article from 1845), p.9.
Irus F. C. Schmidt, 1818:
Shell small, thin, almost equivalve, strongly inequilateral, anterior short, posterior lengthened, more or less tumid and distorted according to the habitat; sculpture made of commarginal folds, more or less elevated and crossed by thin radial striae. Inside dull; muscle scars glossy, well-marked, unequal; pallial sinus very angular, extending up to about half of the valve.
Mercenaria Schumacher, 1817:
« Shell triangular, heart-shaped, equivalve, more or less domed. Hinge: in each valve, three compressed, straight, slightly divergent cardinal teeth; the anterior ones in the left valve, and the posterior ones in the right valve are almost divided in two; the others nearly lamellar, simple. Umbones very prominent internally; their corresponding surfaces flat, obliquely furrowed and crenellated; crenellations undulated. » – C. F. Schumacher: Essai d’un nouveau système des habitations des vers testacés, Paris 1817, p.135.
Paratapes Stoliczka, 1870:
Shell medium-sized, equivalve, compressed, strongly inequilateral with the anterior much shorter than the posterior, which is one of the most developped in all Venerids, the general outline somehow recalling that of a stretched Peronidia, Tellinidae; surface smooth or with some weak commarginal plicae or striations.
Pitar Römer, 1857:
Shell small to medium-sized, « trigonal, plump, concentrically striate or rippled, with an inconspicuous periostracum and delicate coloration; lunule circumscribed, but the escutcheon not defined; inner margins smooth, pallial sinus ample, elongate, somewhat ascending, pointed in front; middle cardinal stout, the others slender; the posterior cardinals feebly grooved, the others entire; the cardinals of the right valve discontinuous where they touch the dorsal margin and not separated from the latter by a groove; anterior lateral adjacent, distinct; nymphs and teeth smooth; dorsal margins grooved as in Meretrix. Römer’s original name, Pitar is a vernacular African word, not really entitled to be used without latinization… » – W. H. Dall: “Synopsis of the family Veneridae and of the North American Recent species”, Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum vol.XXVI, Washington 1903, p.354.
Polititapes Chiamenti, 1900:
« The Tapes in this section have thin and numerous concentric sculptures, and a very fine and deciduous epidermis, which in their state of freshness makes them look varnished. […] The inside of the shell is often tinged… » –A. Chiamenti: “Contribuzione alio studio della Malacofauna Adriatica. Nota sulla famiglia della Veneridae, e della Petricolidae”, Rivista Italiana di Scienze Naturali anno 20, Sienna 1900, p.11.
Ruditapes Chiamenti, 1900:
« Belong to this section the tapes with a rugged surface, where the longitudinal and transversal elements cross each other and make it as rough as a file. […] their interior is often colourless, and they have the back side of the shell subtruncated. » –A. Chiamenti: “Contribuzione alio studio della Malacofauna Adriatica. Nota sulla famiglia della Veneridae, e della Petricolidae”, Rivista Italiana di Scienze Naturali anno 20, Sienna 1900, p.13.
Timoclea T. Brown, 1827:
Shell small, trigonal, equivalve, inequilateral, with a decussate sculpture of radial and commarginal ribs. Synonym Pasiphaë Leach in Gray 1852, with the following description provided: « The shell trigonal, inclining to cordate (heart-shaped) anteriorly, slightly acuminated but rounded; the umbones reflexed; the ligament buried; the hinge with three unequal teeth in each valve, the lateral ones lamelliform, the hinder one in one valve minute. » –W. E. Leach: Molluscorum Britanniae synopsis, London 1852, p.308.
Turtonia Alder, 1848:
Shell minute, equivalve, inequilateral, subovate, brownish, with an extremely short anterior side; sculpture made up of concentric growth striae; margins smooth; lunule narrow; three cardinal teeth per valve; no lateral; muscle scars shallow, somewhat darker than the shell; pallial sinus indistinct. Attached by byssus. For the time being, the genus is monotypic.
Venerupis Lamarck, 1818:
Synonym Pullastra Sowerby 1826, who gives the following description: « Shell equivalve, transverse, inequilateral, the anterior side being the shorter. Cardinal teeth three in each valve, placed near to each other, and generally having their terminations notched; in a few species the central tooth of one valve is deeply cloven. Muscular impressions two, lateral, roundish. Muscular impression of the mantle with a large sinus. Ligament external, partly concealed by the dorsal margins of the valves. » –G. B. Sowerby: The genera of recent and fossil shells, for the use of students in conchology and geology vol.I, London 1826, p.177.
Venus Linnaeus, 1758:
Shell orbicular, solid, with convex valves, well defined lunule and escutcheon; sculpture primarily made up of commarginal plicae or folds, which can be, in some species, crossed anteriorly and posteriorly by some radials. Inner margins crenulate; adductor muscle scars deep and large; pallial line distant from the edge; pallial sinus angulate, small.
Petricolinae
« No lunula or escutcheon. Hinge with only cardinal teeth (sometimes more or less reduced): three on the left valve, two on the right; lateral teeth still missing. Deep palleal sinus. » (fao.org).
Lajonkairia Deshayes, 1854:
« The shells […] also differ in shape from any of the Petricola and Rupellaria group, being short and subquadrate, the posterior portion being higher than the anterior, while the reverse is the case in Petricola. The hinge, however, is of similar construction, having three teeth in the left valve, the median being widely bifid, and only two in the right valve; but the teeth are more widely divergent than in Petricola. The ligament is well developed, but is sunk between the valves so as to be hardly visible from outside. The pallial sinus is large, broad, and ascending. The margins of the valves are smooth in spite of the strong external radial riblets. » – A. J. Jukes-Brown: “On Petricola, Lucinopsis, and the family Petricolidae”, Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London vol.IX, London 1910, p.219.
Mysia Lamarck, 1818:
The genus was proposed by Leach, and appears for the first time in the litterature inside Lamarck’s Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres vol.V, p.543, “Lucine ondée”. A synonym is Lucinopsis Forbes & Hanley, with the following description: « Shell more or less orbicular, rather thin, equivalve, slightly inequilateral, closed; surface smoothish or concentrically striated; inner margins entire; muscular impressions oblong or suborbicular, nearly equal; pallial sinus wide, deep, central, obtuse. Hinge composed of two diverging primary teeth, one of which is bifid, in the right valve, and three, the central one bifid, in the left. Ligament external, prominent, rather long; no defined lunule. » – British Mollusca vol.I, London 1853, p.433.
Petricola Lamarck, 1801:
« Shell transverse, inequilateral, a little gaping at both ends, and having two muscular impressions. Two cardinal teeth on one valve and a bifid cardinal tooth on the other. Ligament external. » – J. B. de Lamarck: Système des animaux sans vertèbres, Paris 1801, p.121.
Petricolaria Stoliczka, 1870:
« The second group is represented by Pet. pholadiformis. In this the shell is very much elongated, sub-cylindrical, the sinus narrow and very deep; the hinge has two teeth in each valve, attached below the hinge area and curving upwards; in the right valve the anterior tooth is hook-like, the posterior much larger, broadly laminar and bipartite; in the left the anterior is very large and bipartite, its anterior portion almost representing a separate hook-like tooth corresponding to the anterior tooth of the right valve, the posterior portion is thick and prominent and longitudinally grooved; besides this there is a small, sometimes obsolete posterior cardinal tooth. Although there exists a decided similarity between the hinge of Petricola and Petricolaria, there is a very marked distinction between them. » – F. Stoliczka: “ The Pelecypoda, with a review of all known genera of this class, fossil and recent”, in Blandford & Stolicza: Cretaceous fauna of southern India vol.3, Calcutta 1871, p.139.
