Venus (genus)

Taxobox
name = Venus clam


image_caption = "Venus affinis"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Bivalvia
subclassis = Pteriomorphia
ordo = Veneroida
familia = Veneridae
genus = "Venus"
genus_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Venus" is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs, a group of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives.

The genus "Venus" is named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus. The common names of clams in this genus usually include the name Venus. However, there are also some bivalves commonly called Venus clams that used to be in the genus "Venus", but which are are now placed in other genera. For example, the species in the genus "Mercenaria" were also formerly classified under "Venus". A few species that still have Venus as part of their common name, but which are no longer in the genus "Venus" are: the sunray venus, "Macrocallista nimbosa", (Lightfoot), cross barred venus, "Chione cancellata", (Linnaeus), lady in waiting venus, "Chione intapurpurea", (Conrad), imperial venus, "Chione latilirata", (Conrad), and gray pygmy venus, "Chione grus", (Holmes).

The family Veneridae contains over four hundred known species, some of which are attractive and popular with shell-collectors. The shell of venerids varies in shape, and includes shells that are circular, triangular and rectangular. Characteristically venus clams possess a porcelain-like inner shell layer, a complex tooth structure in the hinge, well developed escutchion and lunule and a well developed pallial sinus.

Veneridae colonize the sandy ocean bottom, and their populations are often dense and large. The Veneroida order typically have a folded gill structure which is well developed for filtering out small food particles.

pecies

* "Venus affinis" (Sowerby, 1855)
* "Venus albina" (Sowerby, 1853)
* "Venus casina" (Linnaeus, 1758) Europe [taxonomy not verified]
* "Venus cassinaeformis" (Yokoyama, 1926)
* "Venus chevreuxi" (Dautzenberg, 1891)
* "Venus corbis" (Lamarck, 1818)
* "Venus crenulata" (Schröter, 1788)
* "Venus declivis" (Sowerby, 1853)
* "Venus elegans" (Gray, 1828)
* Banded venus, "Venus fasciata" (da Costa, 1778)
* "Venus foveolata" (Sowerby, 1853)
* Striped venus, "Venus gallina" (Linnaeus, 1758)
* "Venus lamellaris" (Schumacher, 1817)
* "Venus lamellata" (Lamarck, 1818)
* "Venus lubuana" (Adams and Reeve, 1850)
* "Venus (Gemma) manhattensis" (Prime, 1862): 482-483, text fig. (syntype, missing).
* "Venus materna" (Iredale, 1929)
* "Venus mindoroensis" (Smith, 1916)
* "Venus nux" (Gmelin, 1791) [taxonomy not verified]
* Oval venus, "Venus ovata" (Pennant, 1777)
* "Venus persimilis" (Iredale, 1930)
* "Venus punctigera" (Dautzenberg)
* "Venus resticulata" (Sowerby, 1853)
* "Venus rosalina" (Rang, 1802)
* "Venus thomassini" (Fischer and Vukadinovi, 1977)
* "Venus toreuma" (Gould, 1851)
* "Venus undata" (Pennant, 1777)
* "Venus verdensis" (Dautz and Fischer, 1906)
* Warty venus, "Venus verrucosa" (Linnaeus, 1758)
* "Venus verrucosa simulans" (Sowerby, 1844)

References

* [http://shells.tricity.wsu.edu/ArcherdShellCollection/Bivalvia/Veneridae.html Veneridae] , Venus clams
* [http://www.worldwideconchology.com/fam/Veneridae.shtml Veneridae] , Venus clam
* [http://www.chez.com/malacos/htm/R48.HTM Venus] , Veneridae
* [http://peet.fieldmuseum.org/amnh_venholdings.html AMNH Veneridae holdings]
* [http://www.ncseagrant.org/ NC Sea Grant] Seashells of NC Field Guide
* [http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/beach_kids/sea_shells/ NC Seashells]
* [http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=81593 ITIS]