Malleus (bivalve)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Malleus
Naturalis Biodiversity Center - ZMA.MOLL.1264 - Malleus malleus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Malleidae - Mollusc shell.jpeg
Malleus malleus (Linnaeus, 1758), museum specimens
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Pteriida
Family: Malleidae
Genus: Malleus
Lamarck, 1799

Malleus is a genus of hammer oysters (marine bivalve mollusks) in the family Malleidae. This genus includes 27 known species.

Characteristic of this genus is the unusual "hammer-shaped" outline of the valves. The shells are nearly equivalved, but the hinge line is extremely long and is at nearly a right angle to the rest of the valves, which grow ventrally. The viscera of the organism are arranged in an oval-shaped patch near the umbones of the valves.[1]

Species[]

  • Lamarck, 1819
  • (Gmelin, 1791)
  • (d'Orbigny, 1853)
  • Reeve, 1858
  • Reeve, 1858
  • (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Cotton, 1930
  • (Forsskål in Niebuhr, 1775)

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ Julia Ellen Rogers (1913). The Shell Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Families of Living Mollusks, and an Aid to the Identification of Shells Native and Foreign. Doubleday, Page. p. 399.


Retrieved from ""