Solemyidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Solemyida
Superfamily: Solemyoidea
Family: Solemyidae
J. E. Gray, 1840[1]
Genera

See text

Solemyidae is a family of saltwater clams, marine protobranch bivalve mollusks in the order Solemyida.[2]

Biology

Solemyids are remarkable in that their digestive tract is either extremely small or non-existent, and their feeding appendages are too short to reach outside the shell.[3]

It has been shown that these clams host sulphur-oxidizing bacteria intracellularly within their gill filaments. As chemoautotrophs, these bacterial symbionts synthesize organic matter from CO2 and are the primary source of nutrition for the whole organism.[4][5] In turn, the animal host provides its symbionts a habitat in which they have access to the substrates of chemoautotrophy (O2, CO2, and reduced inorganic compounds such as H2S). Together, these partners create "animals" with novel metabolic capabilities.

Genera and species

The family Solemyidae includes two genera and the following species:

References

Wikispecies has information related to Solemyidae.
  1. ^ Bouchet, Philippe (2014). "Solemyidae Gray, 1840". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  2. ^ Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand (1979) ISBN 0-00-216906-1
  3. ^ Reid, Robert G. B. (1989). "The Unwhole Organism". American Zoologist. 29 (3): 1133–1140. doi:10.1093/icb/29.3.1133.
  4. ^ Cavanaugh, C. M.; Abbott, M. S.; Veenhuis, M. (1988). "Immunochemical localization of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in the symbiont-containing gills of Solemya velum (Bivalvia: Mollusca)". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 85 (20): 7786–7789. Bibcode:1988PNAS...85.7786C. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.20.7786. PMC 282278. PMID 16593987.
  5. ^ Stewart, Frank J.; Cavanaugh, Colleen M. (2006). "Bacterial endosymbioses in Solemya (Mollusca: Bivalvia)—Model systems for studies of symbiont–host adaptation". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 90 (4): 343–360. doi:10.1007/s10482-006-9086-6. PMID 17028934. S2CID 351963.
  6. ^ Bouchet, Philippe (2014). "Acharax Dall, 1908". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
  7. ^ Bouchet, Philippe (2014). "Solemya Lamarck, 1818". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2014-02-22.
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